yacht
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
-
a vessel propelled by sail or power, used esp for pleasure cruising, racing, etc
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short for sand yacht ice yacht
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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yachtsimple
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yachtssimple
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have yachtedperfect
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has yachtedperfect
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am yachtingprogressive
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are yachtingprogressive
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is yachtingprogressive
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have been yachtingperfect progressive
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has been yachtingperfect progressive
Past
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yachtedsimple
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had yachtedperfect
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was yachtingprogressive
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were yachtingprogressive
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had been yachtingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of yacht
1550–60; < early Dutch jaght, short for jaghtschip hunting ship, equivalent to Dutch jacht hunt (derivative of jagen to hunt) + schip ship 1
Compare meaning
How does yacht compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A yacht is an upscale boat — often a sailboat — that is used for cruising or racing. If you're on a cargo ship, you're probably at work; if you're on a yacht, it's probably your day off. While today a yacht is usually a pleasure vessel, and associated with wealth and recreation, its origins are anything but: the word yacht comes from the early modern Dutch jaghtschip, which referred to “a fast pirate ship,” and jacht meant “hunting.” You won’t find many yachts doing any hunting today — but you might find one cruising around the bay or parked at the yacht club. Yacht can also be a verb meaning to travel in a yacht.
Vocabulary lists containing yacht
Seas The Day: Words That Shore Are Beachy
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for August 17–August 23, 2024
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 15–February 21, 2026
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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:
Domenick Yazzolino, reported that authorities got a call about a burglary and found Forbes inside a yacht that didn’t belong to her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was aboard Kim’s 95-foot, two-story yacht last summer, according to photos in Russian state media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
That is where his $7 million yacht typically docks during his summer visits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Later that year, Bannon was arrested on Guo's yacht in Connecticut.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
A yacht knifed through the early morning water in a long, green V. Sea gulls, balsa-light, hovered on invisible currents above the river.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
The public official is accused of lodging without permission on two docked yachts that did not belong to her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
He has appeared in countless videos, flaunting an ultra-luxurious lifestyle of fast cars, private jets, and yachts.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
After all, there’s typically little impact to ordinary consumers or the economy at large if prices for yachts increase.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 13, 2026
The firm handles everything from background checks on dog walkers to paying bills tied to homes and yachts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Far downstream, twinkling lights began to appear at the portholes of some of the larger yachts anchored near the finish line.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
All last summer Queen & Daughter yachted and toured in Scandinavia.
From Time Magazine Archive
He yachted in summer and sat with equally well-bred companions in the posh Carlton Club in winter.
From Time Magazine Archive
He has yachted from blazing Syria to arctic Spitsbergen.
From Time Magazine Archive
She may repeat the furore created when King George's mother, Denmark's radiant Alexandra, was similarly yachted to Britain to marry the future Edward VII.
From Time Magazine Archive
He drove, he rode, he yachted, to universal admiration; and, meantime, his lady visited all the galleries and works of art, and received in her house all the learned and the literary of all countries.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 4, September, 1850 by Various
The Cryptolocker mastermind was eventually identified as Evgeniy Bogachev, a Russian national known to be fond of luxury cars and yachting on the Black Sea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
The mustached southerner, yachting enthusiast and philanthropist, whose empire also included sports clubs, had been suffering from the degenerative disease Lewy Body Dementia.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
We’d probably come back home, have a little dessert and watch either “The Great British Baking Show” or “Below Deck,” a drama-packed look inside the world of private yachting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
In the cloudy skies and on the choppy waters, the emergency operation is continuing here in Porticello, where a luxury yachting holiday turned to horror.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2024
But Coyotito—he was the one—he wore a blue sailor suit from the United States and a little yachting cap such as Kino had seen once when a pleasure boat put into the estuary.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
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.
