cruise
verb (used without object)
to sail about on a pleasure trip.
cruise
1 American
[krooz]
/ kruz /
verb (used without object)
-
cruises,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cruised,
past participle, past
-
cruising
present participle
-
to sail about on a pleasure trip.
-
to sail about, as a warship patrolling a body of water.
-
to travel about without a particular purpose or destination.
-
to fly, drive, or sail at a constant speed that permits maximum operating efficiency for sustained travel.
-
to travel at a moderately fast, easily controllable speed.
cruising along the highway enjoying the scenery.
-
to travel about slowly, looking for customers or for something demanding attention.
Taxis and police cars cruise in the downtown area.
-
to go or travel (often followed byover ).
Let's cruise over to my house after the concert.
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Informal. to go about on the streets or in public areas in search of a sexual partner.
verb (used with object)
-
cruises,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cruised,
past participle, past
-
cruising
present participle
-
to cruise in (a specified area).
patrol cars cruising the neighborhood; to cruise the Caribbean.
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Informal.
-
to move slowly through or visit (a street, park, bar, etc.) in search of a sexual partner.
-
to make sexual overtures to; attempt to arouse the sexual interest of.
-
-
to inspect (a tract of forest) for the purpose of estimating lumber potential.
noun
-
cruises
plural
-
the act of cruising.
-
a pleasure voyage on a ship, usually with stops at various ports.
Cruise
2
American
[krooz]
/ kruz /
noun
cruise
1
British
/ kruːz /
verb
-
(intr) to make a trip by sea in a liner for pleasure, usually calling at a number of ports
-
to sail or travel over (a body of water) for pleasure in a yacht, cruiser, etc
-
(intr) to search for enemy vessels in a warship
-
(intr) (of a vehicle, aircraft, or vessel) to travel at a moderate and efficient speed
-
informal (intr) to search the streets or other public places for a sexual partner
noun
Cruise
2
British
/ kruːz /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cruisesimple
-
cruisessimple
-
have cruisedperfect
-
has cruisedperfect
-
am cruisingprogressive
-
are cruisingprogressive
-
is cruisingprogressive
-
have been cruisingperfect progressive
-
has been cruisingperfect progressive
Past
-
cruisedsimple
-
had cruisedperfect
-
was cruisingprogressive
-
were cruisingprogressive
-
had been cruisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cruise
1645–55; < Dutch kruisen to cross, cruise, derivative of kruis cross
Explanation
If your mom announces “We’re taking a cruise!” then pack your bags. A cruise is a vacation spent on a ship that sails the ocean, periodically stopping in ports for sightseeing. Cruise can also be a verb that describes sailing around aimlessly for fun. You might cruise the canals of Venice in a small boat. If you don’t live in Venice, you can still cruise — but you might do it in your car. Cruise can be used to describe a leisurely drive taken just for fun. You might cruise around the neighborhood on a Saturday with no real destination in mind. Cruise can also describe traveling easily at a moderate speed.
Vocabulary lists containing cruise
Greetings, World Traveler! — List 2
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List 4
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for January 1–January 7, 2022
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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:
Molly and her husband are planning to take Eunice on another Elite cruise, this time to Alaska, later this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
But her mother often asked, “Where are we?” and Molly explained repeatedly they were on a Caribbean cruise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
A dispatch from the Survivor cruise: Why are people still so obsessed with America’s most successful reality show 50 seasons in?
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026
It’s one of many safety nets in place that should instill confidence when we board planes, cruise ships or simply pack up the car for a weekend getaway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Then we pretend to take the ultimate high-seas adventure on a cruise ship that has a carousel and an ice rink.
From "The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl" by Stacy McAnulty
The actor again stole the show with theatrical flair as the Lord of Darkness in Ridley Scott’s bleak 1985 fantasy “Legend,” playing a demonic horned figure opposite Tom Cruise.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Love was in the air on the recent Acadia Puffin Cruise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Ambassador Cruise Lines said the captain of the MS Ambition raised the alarm after a man was reported missing before it arrived in the city from Lerwick earlier.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
It was the accessories at Jonathan Anderson’s first Cruise show for Dior that left an impression months after the last streetlamp was turned off at the base of the David Geffen Galleries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
“Officer Cruise claims he saw it in the car door, and he assumed Khalil was reaching for it. The handle was thick enough, black enough, for him to assume it was a gun.”
From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
Kathleen, a 70-year-old widow who lives in Illinois, says going on the cruises will take the widower out of his bubble and help take his mind off his grief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
By July, low river levels due to the heatwave were severely affecting European cruises.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Travel agents have access to cheaper bookings and perks: They can often provide discounts on hotels, cruises and tours, or access to perks like VIP packages and upgraded rooms that aren’t available to the public.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Boomers tend to take longer trips and pack more bags—and don’t want to deal with schlepping them through airports and on and off cruises.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
The bass from his stereo hits my chest as he cruises away.
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
Gravenberch had a brilliant season under Slot as Liverpool cruised their way to the Premier League title, perhaps masking the issues temporarily by covering over emerging cracks.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
The Dodgers, with a 4-2 lead, cruised into the eighth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Sunrisers Leeds were bowled out for just 91 as Trent Rockets cruised to an emphatic eight-wicket win in the women's Hundred final at Lord's.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
He said he’d led a charmed life until his 40s, when a divorce unsettled his sense of having cruised along on luck, intelligence and hard work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Male frigate birds with bright red balloonlike sacs under their chins cruised the shore.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
Campaigner George Seward said he was getting up at 05:00 BST and cruising until dark to get his narrowboat through the Atherstone flight of locks, after a sudden closure was announced.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
A travel content creator who spent years working as a cruise ship musician, he says river cruising remains a mythic fantasy for a lot of younger travelers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
But then he was back to cruising, retiring 12 of the next 13 batters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
But as the knock-out rounds got under way, Fayer was cruising off the coast of Tuscany in a motor boat with friends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
It was perfectly happy cruising in second gear: he guessed it must have spent a lot of its time at that speed, holding up traffic.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
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.
