marina
noun
a boat basin offering dockage and other service for small craft.
marina
1 American
[muh-ree-nuh]
/ məˈri nə /
noun
Marina
2
American
[muh-ree-nuh]
/ məˈri nə /
noun
-
a town in W California.
-
a female given name.
marina
British
/ məˈriːnə /
noun
Etymology
Origin of marina
1795–1805; < Italian, Spanish, noun use of feminine of marino < Latin marīnus marine
Explanation
A marina is a dock, especially a fancy one used for sailboats and yachts. If you live in a harbor town, you can walk down the marina to watch boats come and go. A marina differs from a port, which is also a harbor where boats can dock, because it's designed for small boats and yachts, rather than large ships. Seaside towns and cities often have public marinas for mooring boats, and private yacht clubs also have marinas. The word marine, which means "pertaining to the sea," can help you remember that a marina is a place where boats dock. The Latin root of both is mare, "the sea."
Vocabulary lists containing marina
First-Name Basis: Words That Are Also Names
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Smile
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Red Kayak
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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.
Meanwhile, the poor millionaires hang out in the marina on their smaller yachts.
From Salon • May 22, 2026
Earlier this week, the Green Party admitted that Polanski may have failed to pay council tax while living in a houseboat moored in an east London marina.
From BBC • May 14, 2026
“We didn’t build those floats for 2,000-pound animals,” said Sheila Chandor, harbormaster for the Pier 39 marina.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 26, 2026
Dubai's media office said authorities there responded to "a minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception" that fell on a building around the marina area.
From Barron's • Apr. 4, 2026
And nobody had ever stolen from him, though other boats in the marina had been hit several times.
From "The Voyage Of The Frog" by Gary Paulsen
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.
