control surface

1. 1.

   a device that provides reactive force when in motion relative to the surrounding air; can lift or control a plane in flight

   Synonymsairfoilaerofoilsurface

   Broaderdevice

   Narroweraileronelevatorflaphorizontal stabilizerrotor bladerudderspoilerstabilizervertical tailwing

   Partsleading edgetrailing edge

Questions about control surface

What does control surface mean?

control surface means "a device that provides reactive force when in motion relative to the surrounding air; can lift or control a plane in flight".

What is another word for control surface?

Close synonyms include airfoil, aerofoil, surface. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is control surface a common word?

control surface is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.