canoe
Americannoun
-
any of various slender, open boats, tapering to a point at both ends, propelled by paddles or sometimes sails and traditionally formed of light framework covered with bark, skins, or canvas, or formed from a dug-out or burned-out log or logs, and now usually made of aluminum, fiberglass, etc.
-
any of various small, primitive light boats.
verb (used without object)
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to paddle a canoe.
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to go in a canoe.
verb (used with object)
idioms
noun
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a light narrow open boat, propelled by one or more paddles
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another word for waka
-
of the same tribe
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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canoesimple
-
canoessimple
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have canoedperfect
-
has canoedperfect
-
am canoeingprogressive
-
are canoeingprogressive
-
is canoeingprogressive
-
have been canoeingperfect progressive
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has been canoeingperfect progressive
Past
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canoedsimple
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had canoedperfect
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was canoeingprogressive
-
were canoeingprogressive
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had been canoeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of canoe
1545–55; < French < Spanish canoa < Arawak; replacing canoa < Spanish
Explanation
A canoe is a narrow boat that you propel and steer by paddling. Most canoes are fairly light, so that one or two people can carry them easily to the water. A canoe is wide enough for one person to sit in front of another, and pointed at both ends. Paddlers sit or kneel in the canoe and push through the water with wide, usually wooden paddles to direct their path through the water. The word canoe comes, by way of the Spanish canoa, from the Haitian language known as Carib or Arawakan, canaoua.
Vocabulary lists containing canoe
The Best Starting Words for Wordle
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Native American History - Introductory
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"Encounter"
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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.
Potter’s Bridge River Tube Trip – A few days after we got married back in 2020, we rented tubes from the White River Canoe Company and floated down the river.
From Salon • Jan. 13, 2026
Gareth Mahood runs the Ulster Canoe Club, keeping membership costs low in order to increase diversity and inclusivity, and offering kit for free.
From BBC • Dec. 7, 2023
Northern Minnesota’s Superior National Forest, for example, has seen an marked uptick in wildfires, including a 93,000-acre fire in 2011 in the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
From Scientific American • Jul. 10, 2023
He chose Canoe Brook in New Jersey and, despite a double bogey on his first hole, shot 64 and then hung on with a 71 to be among four players to make it.
From Washington Times • Jun. 13, 2023
This is an example of D Minor Pentatonic in the folk song “The Canoe Song.”
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
