canoe
Americannoun
-
canoes
plural
-
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)
-
canoes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
canoed,
past participle, past
-
canoeing
present participle
-
to paddle a canoe.
-
to go in a canoe.
verb (used with object)
-
canoes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
canoed,
past participle, past
-
canoeing
present participle
idioms
noun
-
a light narrow open boat, propelled by one or more paddles
-
another word for waka
-
of the same tribe
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
canoesimple
-
canoessimple
-
have canoedperfect
-
has canoedperfect
-
am canoeingprogressive
-
are canoeingprogressive
-
is canoeingprogressive
-
have been canoeingperfect progressive
-
has been canoeingperfect progressive
Past
-
canoedsimple
-
had canoedperfect
-
was canoeingprogressive
-
were canoeingprogressive
-
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.
See Examples For:
All tickets available for Oklahoma City’s softball and canoe slalom events were sold through for both drops.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
After working with a 17-foot canoe as a centerpiece for the Huntington exhibition, Saar told Curate LA that she felt compelled to return to small-scale pieces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Beth Littlewood, a former canoe polo champion, spent years pursuing a string of grievances against Nuffield Health, the company she worked for as a personal trainer at its Bridgend gym.
From BBC ● May 31, 2026
Once it became clear that the survivors of the Mentor were American, the Ngarchelongese agreed to help them get home by building them a canoe to supplement their whaling boat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
My thoughts flew into turmoil, my instinctive fear of the master taking hold, but as the boat came closer, I saw that it was no canoe but a proper motorboat.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
She thinks the experience will be similar to the days when the area was explored using canoes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
On the park's website, the authority said visitors must not enter the water at any time, which includes using kayaks, canoes, paddle boards and dinghies.
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
They want the authorities to help them buy motorised canoes so they can fish safely further out, where fish are still to be found.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
Particularly marvelous are the voyages of the Polynesians who crossed the immense Pacific a thousand years ago in double-hulled canoes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
Using axes, the men chopped away at the rope that tied the two canoes together.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
Garwood, who has canoed the length of the Mississippi River solo, an odyssey that lasted 84 days, has a deep reverence for his home ground, and the winter that is part of a Minnesotan’s identity.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
Some people canoed to the Cavendish Baptist Church in Vermont, which had turned into a shelter while volunteers made cookies for firefighters working on rescues.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 10, 2023
In the language of the nomadic Chono people, who once canoed and lived off this land, queulat means “the sound of falling water” — and queulat indeed followed me everywhere across the national park.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 15, 2022
“We went up to Osceola and canoed down to Marine on St. Croix. Man, did we have a good time. We got engaged after 53 days; that river did its work.”
From Washington Times ● May 3, 2021
More than a century later the French explorer La Salle canoed down the Mississippi.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Hearn, who competed in three Olympic Summer Games in canoeing, told US media he visited the refurbished pool after a long bike ride and noticed a piece of partially detached liner.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
On a recent morning, Britt Eastland was inspecting a trail at his family’s summer camp, anticipating another season of fishing, camping and canoeing just six weeks away.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026
Frank’s Paddlesport Livery is the first recreational kayaking, canoeing, and stand-up paddleboard operator to open downtown, thanks to the cleanup effort.
From Salon ● Jan. 13, 2026
Less than a year later, another granddaughter, Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, and her 8-year-old son drowned in a canoeing accident in the Chesapeake Bay.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2024
We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
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.
