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• marina
  marina

  noun

  a boat basin offering dockage and other service for small craft.
• Marina
  Marina

  noun

  a town in W California.

marina

¹ American  

[muh-ree-nuh] / məˈri nə /

noun

• marinas
  plural

1. a boat basin offering dockage and other service for small craft.

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Marina ² American  

[muh-ree-nuh] / məˈri nə /

noun

1. a town in W California.

2. a female given name.

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marina British  

/ məˈriːnə /

noun

1. an elaborate docking facility for pleasure boats

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• marinas
  plural

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

marina Marina marinas

A number of factors, Smith said, could have caused the vessel to take in water as it headed back to a San Francisco marina.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

Along with hundreds of homes, the developer plans an 18-hole golf course and a marina on aquamarine Flathead Lake.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

Friends of Big Bear Valley was preparing to launch the fundraiser to halt a 50-home and 55-slip marina project when Steers died.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

Meanwhile, the poor millionaires hang out in the marina on their smaller yachts.

From Salon ● May 22, 2026

The helicopter gradually began to move, following the colorful current of evidence all the way up the beach, all the way to the marina where the Coral Queen was moored.

From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen

Her mother, 72-year-old Luz Marina, recently suffered a thrombosis, and her sister Sandra, 38, ended up in a wheelchair because of meningitis.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

Lorraine, who works at the nearby Marina Cafe, said she was sitting at the bar when she heard "loads of screaming".

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Marina Bolotnikova in Vox: Americans don’t know how to fight AI.

From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026

The company maintains a presence in the Los Angeles area with offices in Marina del Rey and Chatsworth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Now it was up to Marina to distract the enemy.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

According to news reports, flames destroyed homes, restaurants, campgrounds, marinas, and other facilities around the reservoirs.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026

Situated on the outskirts of neighbouring Ellinikon, it promises to hold hotels, shopping centres, parks, marinas and 8,000 homes.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

Transportation construction spending, as the government defines it, refers to structures used for transportation, such as airport hangars, bus terminals, railroad tracks and marinas.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 2, 2026

The bay area waters are somewhat closed off and relatively crowded with major container ships, ferries and public marinas, increasing the possibility of a whale - dead or alive - colliding with a vessel.

From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2026

They looked at boats moored close together in marinas, or alone at the ends of long docks.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt