1. aircraft designed to achieve flight by flapping wings like a bird
Usage: technical; aviation

Examples

• Leonardo da Vinci sketched designs for ornithopters centuries before powered flight was achieved.
• Modern ornithopters are used primarily for research and recreational purposes.
• The engineering team built small ornithopters to study bird flight mechanics.
• Unlike helicopters or airplanes, ornithopters generate lift through wing flapping motion.
• Scientists use ornithopters to investigate how birds maneuver through tight spaces.
• The museum displayed several historical ornithopter prototypes from the early 1900s.