drone

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈdrōn 

plural drones

1

: a stingless male bee (as of the honeybee) that has the role of mating with the queen and does not gather nectar or pollen

At some point, usually around late spring or early summer in the Midwest, thousands of worker bees and drones—half or more of the colony's total population—may fly away with the old queen to find a new home.

—Jim Doherty and Terry Domico

2

: an uncrewed aircraft or vessel guided by remote control or onboard computers: such as

a

: a small remotely-operated rotorcraft usually with a mounted camera

We drifted past a man who was operating a quadcopter drone with a GoPro attached. It swooped over us and then receded upriver.

—Nick Paumgarten

Some particularly dramatic drone footage shows the lava field advancing on a neighborhood.

—Eric Mack

b

: an uncrewed military aircraft or vessel

Armed drones contribute to the illusion that wars can be won on the cheap.

—Sarah Kreps and Paul Lushenko

Designed and built in the UK, Taranis is one of the biggest military drones on the battlefield, with a wingspan of almost 12 metres.

—How It Works Magazine

… waterborne drones are already being deployed by the Navy's 5th Fleet in the waters off the Middle East.

—David Sharp

Boeing is modifying the retired Lockheed Martin-built F-16s into target drones …

—Flight International

The CIA has used pilotless drone planes, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to carry out attacks in countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

—Mark Thomas

If a two-year trial is successful, the Navy might consider developing drone ships for other tasks, such as deactivating unexploded mines.

—Kelsey Atherton and Sarah Fecht

As the U.S. slashes budgets, the lethality and cost-effectiveness of drone strikes will likely make them an even more attractive option.

—Carla Anne Robbins

The military is developing these technologies to defend against drone attacks.

—Iain Boyd

3

informal

a

: a person who is obliged to do menial work : drudge sense 1

b

: a person whose work is routine and boring : drudge sense 2

one of many office drones

4

: someone or something that lives on the labors of others : parasite

… a new Utopia in which robots … do all the work while human drones recline in pneumatic bliss.

—John Diebold

drone

2 of 3

verb

droned; droning

intransitive verb

1

a

: to make a sustained deep murmuring, humming, or buzzing sound

droning bees

The air conditioner droned.

b

: to talk in a persistently dull or monotonous tone

droning on and on about his health

2

: to pass, proceed, or act in a dull, drowsy, or indifferent manner

The afternoon droned on.

transitive verb

1

: to utter or pronounce with a drone

2

: to pass or spend in dull or monotonous activity or in idleness

droning the years away

droner noun

droningly

ˈdrō-niŋ-lē 

adverb

drone

3 of 3

noun (2)

1

: a deep sustained or monotonous sound : hum

the drone of the motor

2

music : an instrument or part of an instrument (such as one of the fixed-pitch pipes of a bagpipe) that sounds a continuous unvarying tone

3

music : pedal point

Synonyms

Noun (1)

• couch potato
• deadbeat
• do-nothing
• idler
• layabout
• lazybones
• loafer
• lotus-eater
• slouch
• slug
• slugabed
• sluggard

Verb

• bumble
• burr
• buzz
• hum
• whir
• whirr
• whish
• whiz
• whizz
• zip
• zoom

Noun (2)

• burr
• buzz
• chirr
• churr
• hum
• purr
• thrum
• whir
• whirr
• whiz
• whizz
• zoom

Examples of drone in a Sentence

Noun (1)

those drones just lie around while we do all the work

after lunch my fellow drones and I shuffle back to our cubicles

Verb

We could hear wasps droning in the garden.

the sound of droning bees all around us

Noun (2)

heard the drone of an airplane overhead

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Her compositions combine droning dissonance, piano and strings to create a moody and evocative electronic ambient score that lends a contemporary flavor. —Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2024

The agreement would promote Saudi investment in advanced technologies, especially drone defense. —Samia Nakhoul and Pesha Magid, USA TODAY, 29 Nov. 2024

Noun

Officers also interviewed potential witnesses and the department deployed drones, canine units, scuba divers and planes to canvas the area, Tisch said. —N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY, 9 Dec. 2024

The drones are already equipped with ballistic fire controls and automatic targeting algorithms, but these systems may need improving. —David Axe, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1), Verb, and Noun (2)

Middle English, from Old English drān; akin to Old High German treno drone, Greek thrēnos dirge

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1520, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Noun (2)

1502, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing drone

• drone attacks
• drone on
• drone strikes

Kids Definition

drone

1 of 3 noun

ˈdrōn 

1

: a stingless male bee (as of the honeybee) whose only function is to mate with the queen bee

2

: a person who lives off the work of others

3

informal : a person who does dull, menial, or hard work

4

: an uncrewed aircraft or ship guided by remote control or by computers carried onboard

drone

2 of 3 verb

droned; droning

: to make or speak with a continuous low humming sound

a plane droning overhead

droned on about himself

drone

3 of 3 noun

1

: one of the pipes on a bagpipe that sound fixed continuous tones

2

: a deep monotonous sound : hum