flightless

Adjective Satellite

• incapable of flying

Adj

• Unable to fly.
• Describing kinds of birds that normally cannot fly, such as the penguin, ostrich, and emu.
• Unable to fly.
• Describing an individual bird that normally would be able to fly but in this case cannot, such as an injured sparrow.
• Unable to fly.
• Suddenly deprived of a scheduled (airline) flight by its cancellation.

Examples

• Oh great, some wind is blowing in Chicago, so now I'm flightless in Seattle, because this airline can't cope!
• The animal shelter has a flightless sparrow named Shiny, who seems to make up for his disability by being an avid runner.
• The indigenous fauna of Australia and New Zealand featured an especially interesting array of flightless birds.

Synonyms

nonflying, nonvolant

Antonyms

flying, volant

Related Words

featherless, unflightworthy, unflyable, unflying