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# flightless

adjective (flightless)

«flightless» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

Flightless means not able to fly. It is used for birds and insects that have wings but cannot fly. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flightless/#m1)

### In the lessons

In science lessons on birds and adaptation, flightless birds include the ostrich, emu, kiwi, penguin, cassowary and the extinct dodo; many live where there were few predators. Phrases: «a flightless bird», «flightless insects».

### Examples

- The kiwi is a flightless bird from New Zealand. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flightless/#x1)
- Penguins are flightless, but they are great swimmers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flightless/#x2)
- Ostriches are flightless and run very fast. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flightless/#x3)
- The dodo was a flightless bird that is now extinct. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flightless/#x4)
- Many flightless birds lived on islands with no predators. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flightless/#x5)
- Emus are flightless birds from Australia. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flightless/#x6)
- Some flightless insects, like fleas, jump instead. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flightless/#x7)

### Note

Formed from «flight» + «-less». Flightless birds still have wings; they are just too small or the bird too heavy. Penguins use their wings as flippers for swimming.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «flightless» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flightless/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«flightless» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/flightless.html) on Mova free.