Coast Guard
Americannoun
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U.S. Military. a military service under the Department of Transportation, which in peacetime enforces maritime laws, saves lives and property at sea, and maintains aids to navigation, and which in wartime may be placed under the Navy Department to augment the navy.
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(lowercase) any similar organization for aiding navigation, preventing smuggling, etc.
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Also called coastguardsman. (lowercase) a member of any such organization.
Etymology
Origin of Coast Guard
First recorded in 1825–35
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.
“The United States Coast Guard and the Taiwan Coast Guard are busy coordinating on shared maritime objectives,” the post said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Coast Guard says it intercepted a panga boat carrying more than 21 migrants Wednesday more than 70 miles offshore of the Southern California Coast, with one unresponsive man on board who later died.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Navy and Coast Guard divers, led by the POW agency, tried to make their way into the Oryoku Maru’s forward cargo hold, where 600 enlisted men were kept.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Coast Guard Lieutenant Mohammad Rawnak Rahman patrols the mouth of the Naf, the river that marks the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Her official employer, she learned, would be the Treasury Department, which oversaw both the Bureau of Prohibition and the Coast Guard.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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.
