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.
-
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.
-
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:
The Houthis claimed responsibility and said they had used cruise missiles to target the airport.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
The steady gains in his portfolio have allowed for some splurges, like the nine-day Caribbean cruise he booked for him and his mother, Kitty Zakrzewski, once Hood Summit wrapped.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
The winner should cruise to the Bay League title.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Slate music critic Carl Wilson raves that Crisco is a “nostalgic pleasure cruise through pop-country styles of the past.”
From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2026
“Unfortunately, due to flooding from the tropical storm, the airport has been shut down for two weeks now. Our only visitors are coming from cruise ships.”
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Ticket sales for the satirical black comedy, which stars Cruise as oil magnate Digger Rockwell, dropped by around 60% in the movie's second weekend.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Hoisting that golden trophy for his acting is one of the only Hollywood milestones that Cruise has yet to achieve.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Comparing Hartnett to actors like Pitt and Cruise might seem like a stretch.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026
The bookish thriller "Verity" cleaned up in its North American box office debut this weekend while Tom Cruise flopped in "Digger" playing a rich old guy who thinks he can save the world.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
So Aimee told her dad about her first day of school, Vanessa, Bridget, Tom Cruise, and Ryan Phillippe.
From "Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story" by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Passengers who paid thousands of pounds for European river cruises with Tui have described their anger after their itineraries changed to involve hours spent on coach trips instead.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Elite Cruises & Vacations, for one, focuses primarily on dementia-friendly cruises.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
He is booked on a couple of Regent cruises but his family wonders if going solo will make him lonelier.
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
She was often chartered for special moonlight cruises, during which an elaborate loudspeaker system piped live music from the observation room throughout the ship.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Leo cruised down the famous boulevard on the popemobile before celebrating an open-air Mass in the Place de la Concorde, a historic first.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Angel City cruised to a 3-0 road victory over a shorthanded Utah team that received two red cards in the first half.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Derrick Henry also scored twice before half-time to move into third on the all-time list for rushing touchdowns, then added another as the Ravens cruised to a 41-23 win.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
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
He made an awe-inspiring loop and cruised upside down beneath her.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
In recent years, Airbus developed plans to allow aircraft to rely on a single pilot at cruising altitude so other pilots could rest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Though the culture never disappeared since the heyday of cruising in the 1980s and 1990s, interest in lowriding has surged in recent years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The third match saw Auston Kim and Rose Zhang from the US dominating Nastasia Nadaud and Leona Maguire, never slipping behind and cruising to a 3&2 win.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
Buendia's strike and Jackson's first Villa goal - benefiting from Yann Sommer's rush of blood - had them cruising.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
On September 21, 1997, while cruising off the coast of Virginia, the billion-dollar missile cruiser shuddered to a halt.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
