harbor
Americannoun
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harbors
plural
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a part of a body of water along the shore deep enough for anchoring a ship and so situated with respect to coastal features, whether natural or artificial, as to provide protection from winds, waves, and currents.
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such a body of water having docks or port facilities.
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any place of shelter or refuge.
The old inn was a harbor for tired travelers.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
Synonym Usage
Harbor, haven, port indicate a shelter for ships. A harbor may be natural or artificially constructed or improved: a fine harbor on the eastern coast. A haven is usually a natural harbor that can be utilized by ships as a place of safety; the word is common in literary use: a haven in time of storm; a haven of refuge. A port is a harbor viewed especially in its commercial relations, though it is frequently applied in the meaning of harbor or haven also: a thriving port; any old port in a storm. See cherish.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of harbor
before 1150; Middle English herber ( we ), herberge, Old English herebeorg lodgings, quarters ( here army + ( ge ) beorg refuge); cognate with German Herberge
Explanation
A harbor is a safe place providing refuge and comfort. If you're traveling, the harbor provided by a warm hotel is welcome. For ships, a harbor is a sheltered port area shielded from waves, where it's safe to dock. Harbor can also be used as a verb, which describes maintaining a belief or a feeling. If you harbor ill-will toward your neighbor John, you don't like him much. Harbor can also mean you hold back your ideas and don't express them openly. John may have no idea you hate him if you harbor your true feelings deep inside, but pretend you like him to his face.
Vocabulary lists containing harbor
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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:
“I’ve had multiple phone calls from harbor masters and fire chiefs in Southern California over the past week, saying, ‘Why is the harbor flooding?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
You also seem to harbor some resentment toward your niece.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
Navatek expected to have offices in more than a dozen states by the end of the following year, including a new 15,000-square-foot facility in the Portland, Maine, harbor.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
The team, who participated in an OpenAI bug-hunting program that offers a safe harbor for researchers to attempt to break into corporate systems, quickly reported their findings to the company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
A number of vehicles were pulling into the harbor lot and unloading even more people onto the pier.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
More land led directly to more wealth and power as the country scooped up farmland, mineral resources and harbors.
From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2026
Turkey, which harbors nuclear ambitions, also seeks to expand its military role in Syria.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
He recently put Claude AI to the test, posing as a healthy, single, 62-year-old woman with some savings who wants to retire at 65 but harbors longevity and inflation concerns.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
But new research has revealed that this familiar element harbors an unexpectedly complex quantum landscape hidden within its electronic structure.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 5, 2026
The broad sweep of the harbors remains, but the quays where Eratosthenes landed are now underwater.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
