Research by Novick examined whether the meaning of airplane changed for U.S. students around the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks. According to this research,

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BResearch by Novick found that the concept of an airplane as a vehicle became more prototypical immediately following the 2001 terrorist attacks, indicating a temporary shift in how people categorized airplanes in the context of vehicles. However, this heightened prototypicality decreased about four months later. Additionally, the research suggested that the number of connection weights, which can be understood as the number of associations or connections a concept has in the mind, for "airplane" decreased at the time of the attacks but increased shortly afterwards, reflecting a change in how the concept was mentally represented and connected to other concepts.

Research by Novick Examined Whether the Meaning of Airplane Changed