berth
Americannoun
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a shelflike sleeping space, as on a ship, airplane, or railroad car.
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Nautical.
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the space allotted to a vessel at anchor or at a wharf.
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the distance maintained between a vessel and the shore, another vessel, or any object.
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the position or rank of a ship's officer.
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the cabin of a ship's officer.
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a job; position.
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a place, listing, or role.
She clinched a berth on our tennis team.
verb (used with object)
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Nautical.
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to allot to (a vessel) a certain space at which to anchor or tie up.
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to bring to or install in a berth, anchorage, or moorage.
The captain had to berth the ship without the aid of tugboats.
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to provide with a sleeping space, as on a train.
verb (used without object)
idioms
noun
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a bed or bunk in a vessel or train, usually narrow and fixed to a wall
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nautical a place assigned to a ship at a mooring
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nautical sufficient distance from the shore or from other ships or objects for a ship to manoeuvre
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to keep clear of; avoid
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nautical accommodation on a ship
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informal a job, esp as a member of a ship's crew
verb
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(tr) nautical to assign a berth to (a vessel)
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nautical to dock (a vessel)
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(tr) to provide with a sleeping place, as on a vessel or train
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(intr) nautical to pick up a mooring in an anchorage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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berthsimple
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berthssimple
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have berthedperfect
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has berthedperfect
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am berthingprogressive
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are berthingprogressive
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is berthingprogressive
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have been berthingperfect progressive
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has been berthingperfect progressive
Past
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berthedsimple
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had berthedperfect
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was berthingprogressive
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were berthingprogressive
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had been berthingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of berth
First recorded in 1615–25; probably equivalent to bear 1 + -th 1
Explanation
A berth is a bed, usually stacked like bunk beds, on a train or a ship. If you're on an overnight train, you may want to spring for a berth instead of sitting up all night. You may have heard the phrase "to give someone a wide berth" — that means to give them plenty of space. But if you want to use berth as a verb, you better be talking about parking a boat: to berth means to moor or dock a ship. The parking spot itself also happens to be called a berth. So if there's a big storm brewing, you best be sure to berth your boat securely in its berth.
Vocabulary lists containing berth
"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 14–18
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Less Common Five-letter Words for Wordle
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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:
They only clinched a berth to the knockout rounds after beating New Zealand in their third match.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
But giving this absolute unit a wide berth has become more challenging as his viral fame grows, because humans keep crowding Neil, getting dangerously close and perhaps forgetting that he is a wild animal.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
With a knockout-round berth already secure, U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino overhauls his lineup, but the changes didn’t work in a 3-2 loss to Turkey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
"The fans are just brutal here," said Guercio, who remembers a 2000s rough patch marked by six straight seasons without a playoff berth and the "dirt chanting" directed at coach Isiah Thomas.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
Him and Charlie gave each other a wide berth whenever they weren’t down on the recitation bench.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
The Premier League secured one of the two berths for 2026-27 after Arsenal won 1-0 at Sporting on Tuesday.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2026
That in itself is not an unusual number, as ships routinely wait their turn to load or unload at port berths in the region.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 6, 2026
The first two teams in the regular-season standings are guaranteed Southern Section playoff berths.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers lost on Sunday to miss out on clinching NFL playoff berths, setting up a pair of winner-take-all showdowns next week for post-season spots.
From Barron's ● Dec. 28, 2025
In the sleeping cars, however, where the porter was already making up some of the berths, there was trouble.
From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater
While rain battered Manhattan during Memorial Day weekend, more than 1,400 people packed into the hangar deck of the USS Intrepid, a World War II aircraft carrier permanently berthed at Midtown Manhattan’s Pier 86.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Each “Book” occupies one side of a long bilateral vitrine, which commands the narrow gallery like a berthed aircraft carrier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
The ship Mississippi was berthed at Terminal G when the containers mysteriously fell into the water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2025
But just around the corner, berthed where no-one can take pictures, is a group of military vessels.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2025
The beet-wagon driver had taken her where the fishing boats berthed, for those were the very first boats to leave Saint Petersburg each day.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
HM Coastguard said the salvage of Solong had progressed to enable its relocation to Aberdeen for safe berthing.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2025
CalMac, which is also owned by the Scottish government, will now spend six-and-a-half weeks conducting crew familiarisation and harbour berthing trials.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2024
While electrification at the berthing docks is already underway in Seattle, grant programs in the legislation will support further electrification and the transition from diesel-powered machinery, not just in Washington but around the country.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2023
Turkey's Ceyhan port was ready to resume Iraqi crude oil loadings from storage on Tuesday, but bad weather was preventing vessels from berthing, a trade source with direct knowledge said.
From Reuters ● Feb. 7, 2023
In this form it is a synonym of berthing.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir
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.
