plural flybys
1
: a prearranged usually low-altitude flight by one or more airplanes over a public gathering (such as an air show)
2
a
: a flight of a spacecraft past a celestial body (such as Mars) close enough to obtain scientific data
b
: a spacecraft that makes a flyby
Examples of flyby in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Study team member Tung X. Tran, then an undergraduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, built a computer model of the solar system to see how the distance between Earth and nearby solar system objects would change after a black hole flyby.
—
Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 24 Sep. 2024
During the flyby, which culminated at 21:48 UTC on Sept. 4, BepiColombo took images and tested 10 scientific instruments, which included taking measurements of how the solar wind interacts with the planet's magnetic field.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 5 Sep. 2024
The researchers simulated what might happen if one of these primordial black holes made a flyby within the orbit of Jupiter.
—Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2024
The spacecraft, launched in April 2023, completed a historic flyby of Earth and the moon on August 21 that has put it on track to reach Jupiter and its moons in 2031.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 5 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for flyby 
Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 24 Sep. 2024
During the flyby, which culminated at 21:48 UTC on Sept. 4, BepiColombo took images and tested 10 scientific instruments, which included taking measurements of how the solar wind interacts with the planet's magnetic field.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 5 Sep. 2024
The researchers simulated what might happen if one of these primordial black holes made a flyby within the orbit of Jupiter.
—Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2024
The spacecraft, launched in April 2023, completed a historic flyby of Earth and the moon on August 21 that has put it on track to reach Jupiter and its moons in 2031.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 5 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for flyby
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flyby.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Articles Related to flyby
Dictionary Entries Near flyby
Cite this Entry
“Flyby.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flyby. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
flyby
noun
fly·by
-ˌbī 
plural flybys
1
: a usually low-altitude flight past a chosen place by one or more aircraft
2
a
: a flight of a spacecraft past a heavenly body (as Mars) close enough to obtain scientific information
b
: a spacecraft that makes a flyby
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share