dinghy
Americannoun
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dinghies
plural
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any small boat designed as a tender or lifeboat, especially a small ship's boat, rowed, sailed, or driven by a motor.
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a boat used by warships, having four single-banked oars and a spritsail.
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any of various rowing or sailing boats used in sheltered waters along the Indian coasts to transport passengers and freight.
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an inflatable life raft.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dinghy
1785–95; < Bengali diṅgi, Hindi ḍiṅgī, diminutive of ḍiṅgā boat
Explanation
A long journey by sea requires a large ship, but if you’re out for an afternoon on the pond, you may want to take the dinghy, a small boat. A dinghy, pronounced "DING-ee," is a lifeboat found on board of a ship in case of emergency, but it can also be a rowboat used for fishing or just relaxing out on the water. The unusual spelling of this word reflects its exotic origins, in the Hindi word ḍiṅgī. Be sure to remember to include the silent “h” when you spell dinghy.
Vocabulary lists containing dinghy
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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:
"Taxi boat" refers to a dinghy that approaches the beach from the sea to pick up migrants in shallow waters off the beach.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
Two women in their thirties and a 10-year-old boy who were believed to be Eritrean died, seemingly in a crush as the dinghy was carrying too many people, he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
In a sailing dinghy, the person at the tiller can simply shift from one side to the other when tacking.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
The migrant dinghy appeared to have set off from close to the village of Vierville-sur-Mer, west of Bayeux.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
There was nothing left there but a small dinghy that should barely fit us all.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
They pay smugglers thousands of dollars to board unstable and often overcrowded rubber dinghies to make the hazardous illegal journey across one of the world's busiest shipping routes.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
Downing Street said the leaders would also focus on tackling the "emerging use of mega dinghies", or larger more powerful boats bringing irregular migrants to England's south coast.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
Previously the French authorities allowed most dinghies to head towards the UK once they had launched, because of the risk of intercepting them in deep water, while loaded with people.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Customs officials recently found 20 undeclared inflatable dinghies hidden between mattress pads at a Turkish-Bulgarian border crossing.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
I can see Hansa, merchant ships, old fishing boats, trawlers, and even dinghies that have brought fleeing people from the nearby lagoon.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
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.
