boatlift
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of boatlift
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.
She describes Poly as both ever-present and irretrievably gone — an absence that structured the family, then fractured it when he finally joins them thanks to the Mariel boatlift of 1980.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
The U.S. is wary of the prospect of a humanitarian crisis on the island, which risks fueling a U.S.-bound exodus, as happened with the Mariel boatlift in 1980.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Even for a nation known for mass exodus, the current wave is remarkable — larger than the 1980 Mariel boatlift and the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis combined, until recently the island’s two biggest migration events.
From New York Times ● Dec. 10, 2022
Cubans replaced Venezuelans as the second-largest nationality after Mexicans, extending the biggest flight from the Caribbean island to the United States since the Mariel boatlift in 1980.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 14, 2022
About 125,000 Cubans arrived in 1980 during the Mariel boatlift, when the island’s ports and marinas were opened to allow U.S. vessels to pick up anyone wanting to leave.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 7, 2022
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.
