motor vessel

British

noun

a ship whose main propulsion system is a diesel or other internal-combustion engine

"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

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.

The Dutch-flagged motor vessel was built in 2019 for polar expedition cruising.

From Barron's • May 5, 2026

“We were conducting a law enforcement patrol near Puerto Rico when we were assigned to assist the crew of the motor vessel Alta,” Cmdr.

From New York Times • Feb. 18, 2020

A trawler is a motor vessel that hauls weighted nets behind her.

From Salon • Jun. 11, 2018

Castro’s tiny force sailed from Mexico to Cuba in December 1956 in the Granma, a small and leaky motor vessel.

From The Guardian • Nov. 26, 2016

Coast Guard said it received an alert with a GPS locator and a distress call: "Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is the motor vessel Karen N. We have sunk off of Bloodsworth Island."

From US News • Jun. 2, 2016

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023