as in perching
to come to rest after descending from the air
the plane will touch down in about 30 minutes
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Recent Examples of touching down
Instead of touching down on the surface, the four astronauts are due to circle the moon in NASA's Orion capsule before heading back to Earth.
—
Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 31 Mar. 2026
Instead, the mission is designed as a 10‑day lunar flyby, sending its four‑person crew around the Moon and back to Earth without touching down.
—Anna Skinner, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2026
The 2026 severe weather season has already proven to be an active one, with tornadoes touching down in Southwest Michigan on March 6.
—Vytas Reid, CBS News, 26 Mar. 2026
At eight seconds, there was a sound consistent with the plane's landing gear touching down on the runway.
—Emily Shapiro, ABC News, 24 Mar. 2026
The French plane departed from Muscat, Oman and made a stop in Cairo, Egypt, before touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
—Dallas Morning News, 4 Mar. 2026
The French plane departed from Muscat, Oman, and made a stop in Cairo, Egypt, before touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
—Samuel Petrequin, Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2026
While some agencies dominate headlines with splashy launches, JAXA often works with a quiet precision that suddenly produces something extraordinary — a spacecraft touching down on an asteroid, a lunar lander executing a daring maneuver, or a new instrument revealing the universe in sharper detail.
—Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 3 Mar. 2026
Also, look for Steven Spielberg’s new alien movie, Disclosure Day, to invade the broadcast, that pic touching down on June 12.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 1 Feb. 2026
Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 31 Mar. 2026
Instead, the mission is designed as a 10‑day lunar flyby, sending its four‑person crew around the Moon and back to Earth without touching down.
—Anna Skinner, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2026
The 2026 severe weather season has already proven to be an active one, with tornadoes touching down in Southwest Michigan on March 6.
—Vytas Reid, CBS News, 26 Mar. 2026
At eight seconds, there was a sound consistent with the plane's landing gear touching down on the runway.
—Emily Shapiro, ABC News, 24 Mar. 2026
The French plane departed from Muscat, Oman and made a stop in Cairo, Egypt, before touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
—Dallas Morning News, 4 Mar. 2026
The French plane departed from Muscat, Oman, and made a stop in Cairo, Egypt, before touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
—Samuel Petrequin, Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2026
While some agencies dominate headlines with splashy launches, JAXA often works with a quiet precision that suddenly produces something extraordinary — a spacecraft touching down on an asteroid, a lunar lander executing a daring maneuver, or a new instrument revealing the universe in sharper detail.
—Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 3 Mar. 2026
Also, look for Steven Spielberg’s new alien movie, Disclosure Day, to invade the broadcast, that pic touching down on June 12.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 1 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for touching down
Verb
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Birds need a complete habitat that includes food, shelter, nesting areas and perching spots.—
Tim Johnson,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Mar. 2026
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The department recommends staggering bloom times to make sure hummingbirds have a food source for the entire season, as well as providing a source of water and trees or tall shrubs for nesting and perching.—
Maia Pandey,
jsonline.com,
24 Feb. 2026
Verb
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In the first episode’s Elimination Challenge‚ which was focused on North Carolina’s state vegetable, sweet potatoes — Cochran cooked up a pork loin in the kitchen at La Belle Helene that wasn’t quite cooked through, landing her in the bottom three competitors.—
Heidi Finley,
Charlotte Observer,
31 Mar. 2026
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The first-stage booster made a recovery landing on land at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Fraser and his team ended up building lighting rigs using old tungsten lights — a lot of them.—
Jazz Tangcay,
Variety,
31 Mar. 2026
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Unlike the Dark Mount, this unit doesn’t have lighting around the sides of the keyboard, but to me at least, that's no big deal.—
Aubrey Jowers,
PC Magazine,
31 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Touching down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/touching%20down. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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