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.

---

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

---

Etymology

Origin of boat people

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

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

Let’s give British Jews the same chance America once gave Irish famine victims, Russian dissidents, Vietnamese boat people, and Afghan translators.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 26, 2025

The tragic flight of the boat people is also a reminder of Vietnam's fraught relationship with its giant neighbour China.

From BBC • Mar. 15, 2023

However, only people being towed behind a boat, people on motor-powered personal watercraft and children 12 years or younger on moving boats 19 feet or smaller have to wear them.

From Seattle Times • May 20, 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