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motorboat

American  
[moh-ter-boht] / ˈmoʊ tərˌboʊt /

noun

  • motorboats
    plural
  1. a boat propelled by an inboard or outboard motor.


verb (used without object)

  1. to travel in or operate a motorboat.

    to motorboat from Hyannis to Martha's Vineyard.

motorboat British  
/ ˈməʊtəˌbəʊt /

noun

  1. any boat powered by a motor

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Etymology

Origin of motorboat

First recorded in 1900–05; motor + boat

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:

Three months ago, the only thing John Tortorella planned to do in the spring was purchase a 24-foot motorboat to take his grandchildren fishing in Florida.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 5, 2026

Adrienne Vaughan, 45, the head of the US branch of Bloomsbury publishing house, died after she was flung from the motorboat in the holiday hotspot in southern Italy in August 2023.

From Barron's Nov. 21, 2025

This summer, Carle has continued his research at night, setting out in a motorboat on Mono Lake to catch phalaropes.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 22, 2025

All that cargo, plus the residents—many of them elderly, ailing, or pregnant—had to be lifted from a motorboat to the deck of the Warrior.

From Slate Jul. 22, 2025

When Zeitoun got back to 5010 Claiborne, he saw a blue-and-white motorboat tied to the porch.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers

Security was visibly heightened at the event, with police cruising the canals in motorboats.

From BBC Aug. 1, 2026

Each summer, tens of thousands of people turn out to watch a uniquely Seattle affair: racing motorboats and choreographed flying displays at the Boeing Seafair Air Show.

From Seattle Times Jul. 14, 2023

The vast majority of the attacks were on sailboats or catamarans, with a handful involving fishing boats and motorboats.

From Scientific American May 24, 2023

Unusually warm waters off Florida’s southwest coast powered the storm as it made landfall north of Fort Myers, tossing motorboats like toys, pulverizing mobile homes and gutting beach resorts.

From New York Times Oct. 5, 2022

Some of the younger fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats, bought when the shark livers had brought much money, spoke of her as el mar which is masculine.

From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway

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