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hospital ship

American

noun

a ship built to serve as a hospital, especially used to treat the wounded in wartime and accorded safe passage by international law.

Etymology

Origin of hospital ship

First recorded in 1675–85

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.

As for sending that hospital ship to Greenland, Jeff Landry still wants to make that happen.

From Salon • Feb. 28, 2026

A U.S. hospital ship off the coast of Nuuk could present both Greenland and the U.S. with some tricky issues, Pedersen said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 24, 2026

Greenland does not need medical assistance from other countries, Denmark's defence minister said Sunday, after US President Donald Trump claimed he was sending a hospital ship to the autonomous Danish territory that he covets.

From Barron's • Feb. 22, 2026

As well as the silhouettes representing the personnel from all three services, two bespoke figures were created to represent nurses Sisters Evershed and Field, who died while saving 75 men from a hospital ship.

From BBC • Apr. 21, 2024

It once served as a hospital ship but was most recently used as barracks for a submarine training school.

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