navigator
Americannoun
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navigators
plural
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a person who navigates.
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a person who practices, or is skilled in, navigation, as of ships or aircraft.
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a person who conducts explorations by sea.
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British. a navvy.
noun
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a person who is skilled in or performs navigation, esp on a ship or aircraft
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(esp formerly) a person who explores by ship
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an instrument or device for assisting a pilot to navigate an aircraft
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of navigator
First recorded in 1580–90, navigator is from the Latin word nāvigātor a sailor, mariner. See navigate, -tor
Explanation
A navigator is the person whose job it is to steer the ship. The navigator plans and charts the course and then points the boat in the right direction. Use the noun navigator when you talk about someone who's in charge of planning a ship's route. Airplanes have navigators too, to direct the course they will take using maps and various instruments. A more old fashioned meaning of navigator is an ocean explorer. In fact, in Latin, navigator simply means "sailor," from navis, "ship," and agere, "drive."
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:
“You might hear, ‘My career navigator was Jenny, and let me tell you she was in my life,’ and those are absolutely the unsung heroes.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026
Meg Stoltzfus, a retirement coach and housing navigator at Financial Council in Towson, Md., works closely with clients facing those questions.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 27, 2026
Israel's military said Saturday it had carried out an operation overnight in Lebanon to find Arad's remains but had failed to uncover any trace of the navigator missing since 1986.
From Barron's ● Mar. 7, 2026
She said she received no medical screening, phone call or access to a lawyer, and was denied a communication navigator when her speech began to slur.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026
The navigator never takes his eyes off the crow’s nest, just above him.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Honey bees are far more precise navigators than scientists once realized.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 14, 2026
Adam Johnson conjures the watery world of the precolonial Tuʻitonga empire in this fictional saga of sovereigns, warriors, celestial navigators and plucky commoners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
Before the fall, Tina had been a high achiever - she and her husband Mark met while working as navigators in the RAF, and Tina went on to retrain as a lawyer.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2025
Last December, a TMC ship set to dock at Honolulu Harbor was turned away as protesters — native Hawaiians, navigators and environmentalists — gathered to express their displeasure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2024
Those who headed these rescue attempts included almost all of England’s leading navigators and explorers.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
