canoe
Americannoun
-
canoes
plural
-
any of various slender, open boats, tapering to a point at both ends, propelled by paddles or sometimes sails and traditionally formed of light framework covered with bark, skins, or canvas, or formed from a dug-out or burned-out log or logs, and now usually made of aluminum, fiberglass, etc.
-
any of various small, primitive light boats.
verb (used without object)
-
canoes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
canoed,
past participle, past
-
canoeing
present participle
-
to paddle a canoe.
-
to go in a canoe.
verb (used with object)
-
canoes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
canoed,
past participle, past
-
canoeing
present participle
idioms
noun
-
a light narrow open boat, propelled by one or more paddles
-
another word for waka
-
of the same tribe
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
canoesimple
-
canoessimple
-
have canoedperfect
-
has canoedperfect
-
am canoeingprogressive
-
are canoeingprogressive
-
is canoeingprogressive
-
have been canoeingperfect progressive
-
has been canoeingperfect progressive
Past
-
canoedsimple
-
had canoedperfect
-
was canoeingprogressive
-
were canoeingprogressive
-
had been canoeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of canoe
1545–55; < French < Spanish canoa < Arawak; replacing canoa < Spanish
Explanation
A canoe is a narrow boat that you propel and steer by paddling. Most canoes are fairly light, so that one or two people can carry them easily to the water. A canoe is wide enough for one person to sit in front of another, and pointed at both ends. Paddlers sit or kneel in the canoe and push through the water with wide, usually wooden paddles to direct their path through the water. The word canoe comes, by way of the Spanish canoa, from the Haitian language known as Carib or Arawakan, canaoua.
Vocabulary lists containing canoe
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Native American History - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After working with a 17-foot canoe as a centerpiece for the Huntington exhibition, Saar told Curate LA that she felt compelled to return to small-scale pieces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
This time, a search-and-rescue team is looking for survivors of a capsized wooden canoe in Jigawa state.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Former canoe racer David Hearn is accused of pulling at a layer of peeling sealant used in a renovation project that President Trump had personally championed and later claimed was targeted by vandals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Once it became clear that the survivors of the Mentor were American, the Ngarchelongese agreed to help them get home by building them a canoe to supplement their whaling boat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
He feared the master more than anything, so he did his best to look busy, working with us on the new canoe.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
She thinks the experience will be similar to the days when the area was explored using canoes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
On summer weekends, thousands show up in Guerneville with kayaks, canoes, inner tubes — just about anything that will float, preferably with a cooler attached.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Then there are the boats or canoes themselves - generally old, weak, rickety wooden vessels that have often been used for years without upgrades or major repairs.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
They want the authorities to help them buy motorised canoes so they can fish safely further out, where fish are still to be found.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
Worried that it was just a matter of seconds before the canoes were swept away and wrecked, the camaradas screamed for help.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
The time they canoed together on the lake in New Mexico.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2024
Garwood, who has canoed the length of the Mississippi River solo, an odyssey that lasted 84 days, has a deep reverence for his home ground, and the winter that is part of a Minnesotan’s identity.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
Some people canoed to the Cavendish Baptist Church in Vermont, which had turned into a shelter while volunteers made cookies for firefighters working on rescues.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 10, 2023
The first recorded run of the Middle Fork occurred in 1926; filmmaker Henry Weidner canoed it, taking four months and shooting 800 reels of film for a nature documentary.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 7, 2022
Several dozen villagers, Tisquantum among them, canoed to the ship.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Hearn, who competed in three Olympic Summer Games in canoeing, told US media he visited the refurbished pool after a long bike ride and noticed a piece of partially detached liner.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
Living near the Boundary Waters satisfied Sims’s penchant for the outdoors, and he loved taking his kids on camping and canoeing trips, Cathie Sims recalled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
Frank’s Paddlesport Livery is the first recreational kayaking, canoeing, and stand-up paddleboard operator to open downtown, thanks to the cleanup effort.
From Salon ● Jan. 13, 2026
Less than a year later, another granddaughter, Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, and her 8-year-old son drowned in a canoeing accident in the Chesapeake Bay.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2024
Stephen has a summer job this summer, teaching canoeing at a boys’ camp, but I don’t, because I’m only thirteen.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
