boat people

American  

plural noun

1. refugees who have fled a country by boat, usually without sufficient provisions, navigational aids, or a set destination, especially those who left Indochina by sea as a result of the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

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boat people British  

plural noun

1. refugees, esp from Vietnam in the late 1970s, who leave by boat hoping to be picked up by ships of another country

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Etymology

Origin of boat people

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

boat people

They are part of a loose community of boat people, all of whom are outcasts in some way, living on the fringe of London in 1961.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

The four people killed in the Cuban shootdown included two young men -- Carlos Costa and Mario de la Pena -- who only wanted to save boat people, said Gonzalez.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

The yellow flag was also flown by so-called boat people like him who fled Vietnam by boat so that they would be recognised as refugees, he said.

From BBC ● May 5, 2023

In 1979, I was two-months old when my parents and I escaped Vietnam as boat people and arrived in Seattle.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 25, 2022

Refugees known as "boat people" continued to leave Vietnam for more than a decade after the Communist takeover, particularly during the late '70s.

From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge