yacht
Americannoun
-
yachts
plural
verb (used without object)
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yachts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
yachted,
past participle, past
-
yachting
present participle
noun
-
a vessel propelled by sail or power, used esp for pleasure cruising, racing, etc
-
short for sand yacht ice yacht
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
yachtsimple
-
yachtssimple
-
have yachtedperfect
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has yachtedperfect
-
am yachtingprogressive
-
are yachtingprogressive
-
is yachtingprogressive
-
have been yachtingperfect progressive
-
has been yachtingperfect progressive
Past
-
yachtedsimple
-
had yachtedperfect
-
was yachtingprogressive
-
were yachtingprogressive
-
had been yachtingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of yacht
1550–60; < early Dutch jaght, short for jaghtschip hunting ship, equivalent to Dutch jacht hunt (derivative of jagen to hunt) + schip ship 1
Compare meaning
How does yacht compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A yacht is an upscale boat — often a sailboat — that is used for cruising or racing. If you're on a cargo ship, you're probably at work; if you're on a yacht, it's probably your day off. While today a yacht is usually a pleasure vessel, and associated with wealth and recreation, its origins are anything but: the word yacht comes from the early modern Dutch jaghtschip, which referred to “a fast pirate ship,” and jacht meant “hunting.” You won’t find many yachts doing any hunting today — but you might find one cruising around the bay or parked at the yacht club. Yacht can also be a verb meaning to travel in a yacht.
Vocabulary lists containing yacht
Seas The Day: Words That Shore Are Beachy
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for August 17–August 23, 2024
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 15–February 21, 2026
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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:
A luxury yacht broker is suing Storonsky, alleging the entrepreneur “went behind their back” to avoid paying commission on a purchase they had worked on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
It was Cecil Wright that brought the yacht to Storonsky’s attention and introduced the Revolut co-founder and Dovigi, the broker says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Coast Guard tracked Fischer to his yacht and took him into custody off the coast of New Jersey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Several hundred protesters shouted slogans hostile to US policies in the Middle East and tried to get close to the yacht, guarded by masked police officers, local media footage showed.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Ten years old, and onto the black screen of her imagination she can project anything: a sailing yacht, a sword battle, a Colosseum seething with color.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
He has appeared in countless videos, flaunting a luxurious lifestyle of fast cars, private jets and yachts.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
The public official is accused of lodging without permission on two docked yachts that did not belong to her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Later, the sessions for 1977’s “London Town” were recorded in a studio they built in one of three yachts anchored off the coast of the Virgin Islands.
From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026
After all, there’s typically little impact to ordinary consumers or the economy at large if prices for yachts increase.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 13, 2026
Reuben had cleared the coastal marinas of their sailboats and yachts and dragged them five miles inland and dumped them on their sides in parking lots.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
It didn't occasion any loud comments from nobility or clergy when the King yachted to Yugoslavia with Mrs. Simpson.
From Time Magazine Archive
All last summer Queen & Daughter yachted and toured in Scandinavia.
From Time Magazine Archive
He yachted in summer and sat with equally well-bred companions in the posh Carlton Club in winter.
From Time Magazine Archive
He has yachted from blazing Syria to arctic Spitsbergen.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Yes, I yachted along the coast from Bar Harbor to Portland one summer."
From The Opened Shutters by Clara Louise Burnham
The pair have been photographed yachting in St. Tropez, holding hands in London and attending the premiere of the “Legally Blonde” prequel “Elle.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
The mustached southerner, yachting enthusiast and philanthropist, whose empire also included sports clubs, had been suffering from the degenerative disease Lewy Body Dementia.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
There have been many other sporting knighthoods and damehoods, including in athletics, yachting, football, golf, tennis, horse racing, cycling and rowing.
From BBC ● May 30, 2025
After lounging on Hawaii’s beaches and yachting in Sicily, a new star-studded cast has headed to Thailand for a luxurious, deadly vacation in “The White Lotus.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
Even as the last Americans were still passing Hitler, the first German athletes began to emerge from the tunnel, dressed in crisp white linen suits and sporting white yachting caps.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
