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drone

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Drone

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
drone bee
MQ-9 Reaper drone, a military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
MD4-200 quadcopter in flight, a small type of drone

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English drane, from Old English drān, from Proto-West Germanic *drānu, from Proto-Germanic *drēniz, *drēnuz, *drenô (“an insect, drone”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrēn- (“bee, drone, hornet”).

Cognate with:

The etymology of the sense of "remote-controlled aircraft" is disputed; theories include early military UAVs dumbly flying on preset paths.[1]

Noun

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drone (plural drones)

  1. A male ant, bee or wasp, which does not work but can fertilize the queen.
    • 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
      All with united force combine to drive / The lazy drones from the laborious hive.
  2. (now rare) Someone who does not work; a lazy person, an idler.
    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:
      SHYLOCK:
      The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder,
      Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day
      More than the wild-cat; drones hive not with me;
      Therefore I part with him; and part with him
      To one what I would have him help to waste
      His borrowed purse. […]
    • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 117:
      he that gathereth not every day as much as I doe, the next day shall be set beyond the river, and be banished from the Fort as a drone, till he amend his conditions or starve.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
      by living as a drone, to be an unprofitable or unworthy member of so learned and noble a society
  3. (metonymically): One who performs menial or tedious work.
    Synonym: drudge
  4. A remotely operated vehicle:
    1. (metonymically): An aircraft operated by remote control, especially an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
      Synonyms: UAV, UAS
      Hyponym: quadcopter
      Several images of the compound were obtained via a drone overflight.
      One team member launched a camera drone over the Third Pole.
      • 1948 September, “Air Force Day”, in U.S. Air Services‎[2], page 6:
        An atomic tested Flying Fortress will make a nonstop flight from Florida, and from the time the first engine kicks over until the last propeller stops spinning at Bolling, no hands will touch the controls. A radio controlled drone, it will make the journey with its mother ship, another Fortress, as part of the Experimental Guided Missiles Group contribution to the demonstration.
      • 2012 October 25, Scott Shane, “Drone Strikes to Be Investigated”, in New York Times‎[3]:
        The United Nations is setting up a unit to investigate American drone strikes and other targeted killings of terrorist suspects, Ben Emmerson, the United Nations special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, said Thursday.
      • 2012 December 1, “An internet of airborne things”, in The Economist‎[4], volume 405, number 8813, page 3 (Technology Quarterly):
        A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone.
      • 2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly‎[5], volume 188, number 26, page 6:
        In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.
      • 2017 October 17, Christina Caron, “After Drone Hits Plane in Canada, New Fears About Air Safety”, in New York Times‎[6]:
        In April, as an Air Canada Jazz flight was landing at Trudeau Airport, a drone came so close the pilot was able to identify it as a quadcopter.
      • 2020 May 20, Paul Stephen, “NR beats floods to secure tracks to Drax”, in Rail, page 58, photo caption:
        NR made extensive use of drones, helicopters and a team of divers to inspect the flood-damaged section of embankment that forced the closure of one of the lines into Drax from February 6-April 20.
      • 2021, Francis A. Boyle, World Politics, Human Rights, and International Law, page 9:
        Indeed, referring to his drone murder extermination campaign Obama bragged: "I'm really good at killing people!" Those are Obama's own words!
    2. (expansion of the sense "an unmanned or remotely operated aircraft"): (chiefly military) Any remotely-operated vehicle (ROV), such as a tank or boat, especially when multiple such vehicles are operated from a larger vessel.
      Synonym: ROV
      • 1946, Seventh United States Army in France and Germany, Report of Operations‎[7], volume 1, page 73:
        The Apex boat is a small radio-controlled craft which tows, at an angle, two Drone boats. The latter are small craft filled with explosives to be detonated from the control radio of the Apex boat.
      • 1968 July, “Long-Distance Crews”, in All Hands‎[8], number 618, page 27:
        Firefish, a drone boat, is the second radio-controlled target used by the detachment. A 17-foot fiber glass craft, it weighs 1700 pounds and operates from the support ship by remote control at a range of up to five miles using tracking radar.
      • 1968 September, “Desert Tank Corps”, in All Hands‎[9], number 620, page 13:
        There, in the heart of a desert target range, operates a fleet of remote-control QM-56 mobile land drones, more familiarly described as modified tanks.
      • 1984 March 1, UPI, “Libya owns drone boats, Navy says”, in Eugene Register-Guard‎[10], page 2:
        "Libya obtained a remote controlled explosive boat system consisting of 30-knot drone boats packed with high explosives controlled from a cabin cruiser type craft," Butts told the seapower and strategic and critical materials subcomittee.
  5. (Uganda) A Toyota HiAce or a similar van, especially one used by Ugandan state agents to kidnap opposition members.
    • 2021 February 4, Alex Mugasha, “Why Uganda's security agencies have fallen in love with the "Drone" van”, in Nile Post‎[11]:
      The van is locally referred to as "a drone" because it is compact and stable under extreme conditions. It is also very fast. Technically though, it is a Toyota Hiace, which is usually used for commercial purposes.
    • 2021 February 4, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, “Horror inside a kidnap drone”, in The Observer‎[12]:
      He has been arrested several times, transported in drone vans and brutalized in various detention facilities.
    • 2021 March 3, Liam Taylor, “They came in plainclothes with guns: 'Abducted' by Uganda's army”, in Al Jazeera‎[13]:
      The Toyota Hiace is a light commercial van that can be used as a minibus, a taxi, or even an ambulance. But in Uganda, the "drone" has a sinister reputation. Chris Atukwasize, a cartoonist at the Daily Monitor newspaper, dubbed it the #WheelsOfSteal and rendered it as a skull: brake lights dripping blood, its front grille a row of teeth, and hands plastered behind its tinted back windows, pleading for help.
    • 2022 October 2, Sam Waswa, “UPDF Probes Drone Raid at Journalist's Home”, in Chimp Reports‎[14]:
      Earlier this week, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa summoned the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja together with the Ministers of Security and Internal Affairs and parliamentary whips to address the said return of drones on the streets.
    • 2022 October 20, Albert K Awedoba, Andreas Mehler, Benedikt Kamski, David Sebudubudu, Africa Yearbook, volume 18, →ISBN, page 419:
      A minibus van, often numberless and dubbed the 'drone', gained notoriety for kidnaps and disappearances.
  6. (chiefly Internet slang, derogatory) A person without the ability to think critically and independently, especially one who follows a group blindly; a non-player character.
    • 2009 December 18, Benway (original non-Zionist), “Shocking Jewish faggot property pimp attack on Australia”, in aus.politics‎[15] (Usenet):
      The billionaire-friendly media drones and frenzied
      multiculturalist politicians are imposing
      "vibrant" third world social violence onto
      Australians, and Australians don't get to vote
      against this "bipartisan" conspiracy. The
      hyperactive globalist politicians and media drones
      might find themselves facing firing squads if they
      don't change their corrupt ways.
    • 2011 September 2, corella, “What does it mean when gibbering media drones say that grotesque Asian-style "Stack and Pack" slums and plague immigration are vibrant?”, in aus.politics‎[16] (Usenet):
    • 2017 January 19, The Party Of Trump (The Party For Winners), “Re: Clinton Cash”, in alt.checkmate‎[17] (Usenet):
      Instead, you got into lockstep with all the other hive-mind libtard drones and voted for the slimy corrupt scumbag bitch who was under *two* active Congressional investigations (a first in history, BTW), Hitlery Clinton.
Usage notes
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  • In sense “unmanned aircraft”, primarily used informally of military aircraft or consumer radio controlled quadcopters, without precise definition.[1] The application of the term drone to unmanned aircraft, (and subsequently to other unmanned vehicles) has been traced to British military jargon of the mid 1930s. The most common aircraft used for British naval gunnery target practice at that time was a pilotless, radio controlled biplane produced by the de Havilland Aircraft Company named the DH.82 Queen Bee. Despite being called the Queen Bee, which, of course, is a female bee, by its maker, these aircraft came to be known as "drones", a particular name in entomology for a male bee or wasp, in reference to the fact that, in a manner similar to the fact of a drone honeybee dying after performing its essential function during a nuptial flight, the DH.82 was expected to "give its life" (that is, to be destroyed) as a result of the performance of its own essential function as a gunnery target.
Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Asturian: dron
  • → Spanish: dron
  • → Italian: drone
  • → Punjabi: ਡ੍ਰੋਨ (ḍron)
  • → Polish: dron
  • → Portuguese: drone
Translations
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Verb

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drone (third-person singular simple present drones, present participle droning, simple past and past participle droned)

  1. (transitive, colloquial) To kill with a missile fired by unmanned aircraft.
    • 2014, Colin Campbell, “Bill Ayers To Obama: 'Stop Droning People'”, in Business Insider‎[18]:
      "I have a lot of advice for him," Ayers said in the interview, aired Tuesday night. "I want him to stop droning people. I want him to close Guantanamo. I want universal healthcare. Don't you think we deserve universal healthcare? Seriously."
    • 2016, David Moye, “Trevor Noah: If Trump Is Elected, He’ll Wage ‘Warsuits’”, in Huffington Post‎[19]:
      “He won’t be waging wars all the world ― he’ll be waging ‘warsuits,’” Noah said. “Droning people with subpoenas all over the globe.”
    • 2018, David Weigel, “The new ‘Dr. No’: Rep. Justin Amash, marooned in Congress”, in Washington Post‎[20]:
      “Are we still droning people? Yeah,” he said. “Are we still running covert operations that weren’t authorized by Congress? Yeah. Is the government still spying on Americans without warrants? Without due process. Yeah. When some libertarians talk about the great accomplishments we’re seeing on foreign policy, I don’t know what they’re talking about. Reaching out to these guys is one thing, but you have to move down the court. [Trump] actually made it harder for us to have a good relationship with Russia.”
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English drounen (“to roar, bellow”), from Proto-West Germanic *drunnjan, from Proto-Germanic *drunjaną (“to drone, roar, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to roar, hum, drone”).

Cognate with Scots drune (“to drone, moan, complain”), Dutch dreunen (“to drone, boom, thud”), Low German drönen (“to drone, buzz, hum”), German dröhnen (“to roar, boom, rumble”), Danish drøne (“to roar, boom, peel out”), Swedish dröna (“to low, bellow, roar”), Icelandic drynja (“to roar”).

This entry needs a sound clip exemplifying the definition.

Verb

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drone (third-person singular simple present drones, present participle droning, simple past and past participle droned)

  1. To produce a low-pitched hum or buzz.
  2. To speak in a monotone.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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drone (plural drones)

  1. A low-pitched hum or buzz.
  2. (music) One of the fixed-pitch pipes on a bagpipe.
  3. (music, uncountable) A genre of music that uses repeated lengthy droning sounds.
  4. A humming or deep murmuring sound.
Translations
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Etymology 3

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Noun

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drone (uncountable)

  1. (UK, slang) The drug mephedrone.
    Synonym: meow

Further reading

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kelsey D. Atherton (2013 March 7) “Flying Robots 101: Everything You Need To Know About Drones”, in Popular Science‎[1], archived from the original on 2013-03-10

Anagrams

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Danish

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Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da
Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

Etymology

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From Middle Low German drone (sense 1), and English drone (sense 2).

Noun

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drone c (singular definite dronen, plural indefinite droner)

  1. a drone (male bee)
  2. a drone (radio-controlled pilotless aircraft)

Declension

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Declension of drone
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative drone dronen droner dronerne
genitive drones dronens droners dronernes

Further reading

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English drone (“aircraft drone”). Doublet with dar (“male bee”), which descended from Middle Dutch, cf. Limburgish dreen.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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drone m (plural drones, diminutive droontje n)

  1. a remotely controlled aircraft; a drone

Derived terms

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Finnish

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Etymology

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< English drone

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈdrone/, [ˈdro̞ne̞]
  • Rhymes: -one
  • Hyphenation(key): dro‧ne

Noun

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drone

  1. (Anglicism) drone (type of unmanned aircraft)

Declension

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Inflection of drone (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
nominative drone dronet
genitive dronen dronejen
partitive dronea droneja
illative droneen droneihin
singular plural
nominative drone dronet
accusative nom. drone dronet
gen. dronen
genitive dronen dronejen
dronein rare
partitive dronea droneja
inessive dronessa droneissa
elative dronesta droneista
illative droneen droneihin
adessive dronella droneilla
ablative dronelta droneilta
allative dronelle droneille
essive dronena droneina
translative droneksi droneiksi
abessive dronetta droneitta
instructive — dronein
comitative See the possessive forms below.
Possessive forms of drone (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
first-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative droneni droneni
accusative nom. droneni droneni
gen. droneni
genitive droneni dronejeni
droneini rare
partitive droneani dronejani
inessive dronessani droneissani
elative dronestani droneistani
illative droneeni droneihini
adessive dronellani droneillani
ablative droneltani droneiltani
allative dronelleni droneilleni
essive dronenani droneinani
translative dronekseni droneikseni
abessive dronettani droneittani
instructive — —
comitative — droneineni
second-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative dronesi dronesi
accusative nom. dronesi dronesi
gen. dronesi
genitive dronesi dronejesi
droneisi rare
partitive droneasi dronejasi
inessive dronessasi droneissasi
elative dronestasi droneistasi
illative droneesi droneihisi
adessive dronellasi droneillasi
ablative droneltasi droneiltasi
allative dronellesi droneillesi
essive dronenasi droneinasi
translative droneksesi droneiksesi
abessive dronettasi droneittasi
instructive — —
comitative — droneinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative dronemme dronemme
accusative nom. dronemme dronemme
gen. dronemme
genitive dronemme dronejemme
droneimme rare
partitive droneamme dronejamme
inessive dronessamme droneissamme
elative dronestamme droneistamme
illative droneemme droneihimme
adessive dronellamme droneillamme
ablative droneltamme droneiltamme
allative dronellemme droneillemme
essive dronenamme droneinamme
translative droneksemme droneiksemme
abessive dronettamme droneittamme
instructive — —
comitative — droneinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative dronenne dronenne
accusative nom. dronenne dronenne
gen. dronenne
genitive dronenne dronejenne
droneinne rare
partitive droneanne dronejanne
inessive dronessanne droneissanne
elative dronestanne droneistanne
illative droneenne droneihinne
adessive dronellanne droneillanne
ablative droneltanne droneiltanne
allative dronellenne droneillenne
essive dronenanne droneinanne
translative droneksenne droneiksenne
abessive dronettanne droneittanne
instructive — —
comitative — droneinenne
third-person possessor
singular plural
nominative dronensa dronensa
accusative nom. dronensa dronensa
gen. dronensa
genitive dronensa dronejensa
droneinsa rare
partitive droneaan
droneansa 		dronejaan
dronejansa
inessive dronessaan
dronessansa 		droneissaan
droneissansa
elative dronestaan
dronestansa 		droneistaan
droneistansa
illative droneensa droneihinsa
adessive dronellaan
dronellansa 		droneillaan
droneillansa
ablative droneltaan
droneltansa 		droneiltaan
droneiltansa
allative dronelleen
dronellensa 		droneilleen
droneillensa
essive dronenaan
dronenansa 		droneinaan
droneinansa
translative dronekseen
droneksensa 		droneikseen
droneiksensa
abessive dronettaan
dronettansa 		droneittaan
droneittansa
instructive — —
comitative — droneineen
droneinensa

Synonyms

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Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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English drone.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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drone m (plural drones)

  1. drone (unmanned aircraft)

Derived terms

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Italian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English drone.

Noun

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drone m (invariable)

  1. drone (unmanned aircraft)

Anagrams

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Middle English

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Noun

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drone

  1. Alternative form of drane

Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no
Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

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From Middle Low German drone (sense 1), and English drone (sense 2).

Noun

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drone m (definite singular dronen, indefinite plural droner, definite plural dronene)

  1. a drone (male bee)
  2. a drone (radio-controlled pilotless aircraft)

Synonyms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From Middle Low German drone (sense 1), and English drone (sense 2).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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drone m (definite singular dronen, indefinite plural dronar, definite plural dronane)

  1. drone (male bee)
  2. drone (unmanned aircraft)

Synonyms

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References

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Portuguese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English drone.[1][2]

Pronunciation

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  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈdɾɔ.nɨ/, (English pronunciation) /ˈdɾo(w).nɨ/
    • (Northern Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈdɾɔ.nɨ/, (English pronunciation) /ˈdɾow.nɨ/
    • (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈdɾɔ.nɨ/, (English pronunciation) /ˈdɾo.nɨ/

  • Hyphenation: dro‧ne
  • Rhymes: -oni

Noun

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drone m (plural drones)

  1. drone (unmanned aircraft)

References

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  1. ^ “drone”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024
  2. ^ “drone”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Spanish

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English drone.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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drone m (plural drones)

  1. drone

Usage notes

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  • According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Turkish

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English drone.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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drone (definite accusative droneu, plural dronelar)

  1. (aviation) An unmanned aerial vehicle; drone.

Declension

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Inflection
Nominative drone
Definite accusative droneu
Singular Plural
Nominative drone dronelar
Definite accusative droneu droneları
Dative dronea dronelara
Locative droneda dronelarda
Ablative dronedan dronelardan
Genitive droneun droneların

Synonyms

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