UAP

abbreviation or noun

ˌyü-ˌā-ˈpē 

plural UAP or UAPs

: unidentified aerial phenomenon, unidentified anomalous phenomenon

—used especially as an alternative to UFO or unidentified flying object

… UFO has been replaced by UAP. Scientists and government officials are using the new acronym in an attempt to get away from the stigma and assumptions of little green men that persist when people think of UFOs. Until recently, UAP stood for "unidentified aerial phenomena," but last year's National Defense Authorization Act tweaked the term to stand for "unidentified anomalous phenomena," a broader catch-all category.

—Cameron Joseph

UAP—unidentified aerial (or anomalous) phenomenon—is apparently now preferred over UFO, or unidentified flying object. Assertions have been made that people associate "UFO" with alien visitors, whereas the new "UAP" terminology can be more readily associated with additional phenomena, perhaps swamp gas.

—Matthew J. Sharps

Since 2017, my life has been dominated by efforts to help Congress and the public discover the truth about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), what many still refer to as UFOs.

—Christopher Mellon

Yet given the growing public clamor (and congressional clamor, for that matter) for information about UFOs, NASA felt compelled to provide the public with some answers. Consequently on Monday the federal agency launched a new study with 16 members for the purpose of determining the best way for NASA to further study what the scientists refer to as "UAPs" (unidentified aerial phenomena).

—salon.com

Examples of UAP in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Despite all evidence pointing to the existence of UAP, Colter has his doubts. —Ryan Schwartz, TVLine, 20 Oct. 2024

Then in November, the DoD set up a website to report government activity related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), also known as UFOs. —Greg Wehner, Fox News, 17 Oct. 2024

While our own view is that UFOs, or UAP, emphatically do not represent any truly anomalous physical phenomena such as an extraterrestrial presence, this nevertheless does not consign ufology to insignificance. —Luis Cayetano Simmari, Scientific American, 26 Sep. 2024

There are some distinctions between how the UAP debate and those over COVID’s origins and the safety and efficacy of vaccines have unfolded. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above