Meaning & use

pilot

noun·Everyday

A person trained and licensed to fly an aircraft or navigate a ship through difficult waters.

See it in a sentence

The pilot announced that the flight would land twenty minutes ahead of schedule.

A local river pilot guided the cargo ship safely through the narrow, rocky channel.

A note on using this word

Pilot can also be a verb meaning to guide or steer, and an adjective for a trial version of something, as in a pilot program.

Words with a similar meaning

aviatornavigator

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Another way to use it

2. adjective

Describing a small-scale trial version of a project or program used to test its feasibility.

The school launched a pilot program to see whether the new curriculum improved test scores.

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