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• mariner
  mariner

  noun

  a person who directs or assists in the navigation of a ship; sailor.
• Mariner
  Mariner

  noun

  any of a series of US space probes launched between 1962 and 1971 that sent back photographs and information concerning the surface of Mars and Venus and also studied interplanetary matter

mariner

American  

[mar-uh-ner] / ˈmær ə nər /

noun

1. a person who directs or assists in the navigation of a ship; sailor.

   Synonyms:

   seafarer

2. (initial capital letter) one of a series of U.S. space probes that obtained scientific information while flying by or orbiting around the planets Mars, Mercury, and Venus.

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Mariner ¹ British  

/ ˈmærɪnə /

noun

1. any of a series of US space probes launched between 1962 and 1971 that sent back photographs and information concerning the surface of Mars and Venus and also studied interplanetary matter

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mariner ² British  

/ ˈmærɪnə /

noun

1. a formal or literary word for seaman

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Usage

What does mariner mean? A mariner is a sailor, especially a professional one. The word sailor is used much more commonly than mariner, which often sounds formal or old-fashioned. Mariner is sometimes used as a more poetic word for sailor, much like its synonym seafarer. In literature, the word is associated with its use in the title of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1798 epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which is considered highly influential and a landmark of Romantic literature. It is in fact about a sailor. Mariner was also the name of a NASA program involving a series of probes (which were also each named Mariner along with a number) launched to gather information while orbiting Mars, Venus, and Mercury. The word also appears in the name of the Seattle Mariners baseball team—a reference to Seattle’s heritage as a port city. Example: The seaside pub was frequented by salty old mariners.

Related Words

See sailor.

Etymology

Origin of mariner

First recorded in 1250–1300 mariner for def. 1; mariner for def. 2 1960–65; Middle English, from Anglo-French; Old French marinier. See marine, -er ²

Explanation

A mariner is someone who works on a boat or ship. A lobsterman who works alone on a small boat is a mariner, and so is the captain of an enormous cargo ship. Mariner is a somewhat old-fashioned word for a sailor or seafarer, a person who spends most of their working life on some kind of ocean vessel. Today, you're more likely to read about mariners in an old book than to meet people who describes themselves this way. Mariner comes from the Latin word marinus, "of the sea," and its root, mare, "the sea."

Example Sentences

Mexico’s last shipment, 85,000 barrels on the tanker Ocean Mariner, was unloaded in Cuba on Jan 9.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

Janney banking analyst Christopher Mariner told MarketWatch that third-party outsourcing to check loan collateral is normal in the industry but lenders must still manage their vendors.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 14, 2025

TeraWulf plans a $3.2 billion senior secured notes offering due in 2030 to finance its Lake Mariner data-center campus.

From Barron's • Oct. 14, 2025

Kotoni Staggs and Deine Mariner of the Broncos celebrate victory during the NRL preliminary final match against the Penrith Panthers at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

From BBC • Sep. 30, 2025

One of the great findings of the Mariner 9 mission to Mars was that there are time-variable streaks and splotches on the Martian surface—many connected with the ramparts of impact craters—which change with the seasons.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan