canoe
Americannoun
-
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)
-
to paddle a canoe.
-
to go in a canoe.
verb (used with object)
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
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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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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.
The "last straw" occurred when Littlewood travelled to Brandenburg, Germany, to compete in the European Canoe Polo Championships in September 2023.
From BBC • May 31, 2026
Earlier this month, Jesse Fuentes, owner of Epi's Canoe and Kayak Team, an Eagle Pass outfitter offering lessons and tours, sued claiming the buoys threaten his livelihood and the local ecosystem.
From Salon • Jul. 26, 2023
Northern Minnesota’s Superior National Forest, for example, has seen an marked uptick in wildfires, including a 93,000-acre fire in 2011 in the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
From Scientific American • Jul. 10, 2023
Canoe rentals are $16/hour, making this an affordable way to explore the nearby Union Bay Natural Area and the shoreline of the Washington Park Arboretum.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 30, 2023
This is an example of D Minor Pentatonic in the folk song “The Canoe Song.”
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
