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Synonyms

mother ship

American  

noun

  1. a vessel or craft that services others operating far from a home port or center.

mother ship British  

noun

  1. a ship providing facilities and supplies for a number of small vessels

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of mother ship

First recorded in 1885–90

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.

What’s Next: The restart of commercial missions with a mother ship and two Delta spaceships opens up the potential for $450 million in annual revenue across 125 flights, analysts at Jefferies said.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

The Jiutian, a hulking mother ship drone designed to release swarms of smaller drones, completed its maiden flight in December, according to state media.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 25, 2026

Investigators with the US Coast Guard said it was among the final communications between the Titan and its mother ship before they lost contact for good.

From BBC • Sep. 16, 2024

For well over a decade, leadership at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has been talking about establishing satellite museum galleries far from the mother ship on Wilshire Boulevard.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2024

One would stay in the mother ship, and the other two would travel from the mother ship in the Lunar Lander.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

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.