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seaplane

noun

Simple meaning

An airplane that can land on or take off from water.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

seeplayn

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsipleɪn

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. aircraftnautical

    An airplane that can land on or take off from water

  2. aircraftnautical

    Any aircraft capable of taking off from, and alighting on the surface of water.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare
Formality
Technical
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An airplane that can land on or take off from water

Used this way, seaplane is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a nautical use: it is standard at sea and largely unfamiliar ashore.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Sailing/maritime
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Nearby words

  • hydroplane , a specialist term, precise but narrower

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

seaplane baseseaplane carrierseaplane tenderssmall seaplaneseaplane stationjapanese seaplanetwo seaplaneseaplane ramp

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.