How to Use airfoil in a Sentence

airfoil

noun
  • Note the airfoil, which is a specific wing shape that helps keep a plane in the air.
    — Craig Merrett, Discover Magazine, 25 Mar. 2024
  • The shape of the airfoil is the key to noise generation here.
    — Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 11 Mar. 2022
  • The horizontal airfoil surface of the tail group is about the size of the wing of a small bomber.
    — Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, 3 June 2021
  • The rear end flies a tall biplane setup with a large wing perched above a second smaller airfoil.
    — K.c. Colwell, Car and Driver, 7 Feb. 2022
  • What dominates the room, though, is a big, red ceiling fan, 14 feet wide with airfoil tips.
    — Judy Rose, Detroit Free Press, 23 Nov. 2019
  • Trailing behind that is a thin airfoil covered by the second electrode.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 21 Nov. 2018
  • The center of pressure for an airfoil, however, is locked in place and does not change with the angle of attack.
    — Sarah Wells, Popular Mechanics, 9 Aug. 2023
  • The curved rim on a Frisbee acts as an airfoil, which generates lift almost like an airplane wing.
    — David Kindy, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Aug. 2021
  • Lower pressure is created on the top of the airfoil compared to the pressure on the bottom.
    — Craig Merrett, Discover Magazine, 25 Mar. 2024
  • That was immediately followed by a quick clip of the rapper falling off an airfoil, and then more golf.
    — USA TODAY, 16 June 2023
  • The motor directly drives the fan’s airfoils (1) (commonly known as fan blades).
    — Kevin Dupzyk, Popular Mechanics, 26 Feb. 2018
  • In the bowing airfoil shape, air moving over the longer, curved side moves faster than air flowing by the other side, generating lift.
    — Caleb Paine, Popular Mechanics, 30 Mar. 2021
  • In the bowing airfoil shape, air moving over the longer, curved side moves faster than air flowing by the other side, generating lift.
    — Popular Mechanics, 18 May 2018
  • The curved shape of an airplane wing—called an airfoil—alters the air pressure on either side of it and ultimately produces lift.
    — Andrea Thompson, Scientific American, 21 Apr. 2020
  • While the wing's orientation is important, the airfoil design, or the shape of the wing's profile viewed from the side-on, might be even more so.
    — Walter J. Boyne and Alex Hollings, Popular Mechanics, 23 May 2021
  • The airfoil design generates lift across the entire fuselage rather than just the wings—meaning more power goes further—and reduces drag.
    — Eric Adams, Wired, 16 Feb. 2020
  • The first finger also anchors an alula, a cluster of small feathers that acts as a mini airfoil, helping in fine maneuvers.
    — Kate Wong, Scientific American, 16 Sep. 2025
  • On either side of the body, hanging off the wing, was a series of the wire/airfoil ionizers (two rows from front to back, both in a column of four for a total of eight).
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 21 Nov. 2018
  • Swartzlander's lightfoil is actually quite like an airfoil, with one side rounded and the other flat.
    — Andrew Moseman, Discover Magazine, 6 Dec. 2010
  • At speed, these buttresses also act like airfoils, generating a bit of downforce while also looking like hell’s kitchen drawer.
    — Dan Neil, WSJ, 6 July 2017
  • Other cases, like the airfoils that sweep back to a vee and carry our fighter jets to supersonic speeds, could only have come from trial-and-error arms races.
    — Nick Stockton, WIRED, 22 July 2014
  • The above image shows the computational grid, rendered as blue lines, as well as the airfoil and the flow solution, showing how the grid adapts itself to the flow.
    — Lee Phillips, Ars Technica, 10 Oct. 2018
  • Would there be any significant advantages to making the wing into a more complex shape, for example with an airfoil cross-section instead of a flat plate?
    — IEEE Spectrum, 8 Mar. 2023
  • Many airfoil designs include baffles that inflate the fabric to increase the glide ratio — the forward motion relative to the loss in altitude.
    — James McCommons, Discover Magazine, 28 May 2015
  • Pratt is set to open a casting foundry and airfoil production facility in Asheville, North Carolina.
    — Stephen Singer, courant.com, 30 Mar. 2022
  • How Wind Moves a Boat A sail full of wind forms an airfoil and propels the boat with lift, the way a plane’s wing does (except across water, rather than into the air).
    — Popular Mechanics, 18 May 2018
  • Clawed fingers interrupted the leading edge of its wing, and compared with birds of today, its feathers appear to have been less flexible and thus less adept at forming a coherent airfoil.
    — Kate Wong, Scientific American, 16 Sep. 2025
  • The largest hurdle in the progression of VAWT designs is the lack of a proper airfoil shape and troubles with the braking systems, which drive unit costs up.
    — Ariel Cohen, Forbes, 20 May 2021
  • This differs substantially from conventional aircraft, which rely on airfoils—structures designed to generate lift.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 4 Jan. 2023
  • The main rotor remains a 72-foot diameter, six-blade disc, but the blades are made from a carbon-fiber composite construction, each comprised of four discreet airfoils blended together.
    — Eric Tegler, Popular Mechanics, 9 Mar. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'airfoil.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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