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:
The 30-year-old navigator from rural Bangladesh normally passes seatime evading zombies on the videogame Minecraft.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 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
She won Ladies' Cups and as navigator to husband Ian they won the Coupe des Alpes three times in the tough Alpine Rally.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2025
Exactly three minutes behind them flew Anya Vysotskaya and Galya Dokutovich, the navigator who’d spent six months in the hospital after being run over by a truck.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Starling gave the technology an opportunity to be tested under real conditions in orbit, demonstrating how advanced flight software can allow satellites to function as increasingly autonomous navigators.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
Earlier in the jet age, more pilots were on the flight deck, along with navigators and flight engineers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
Another change is the creation of a new position in the control room - called "clinical navigators" - who closely monitor the list of those waiting for an ambulance.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 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
The latter two islands supported hereditary part-time craft specialists, including canoe builders, navigators, stone masons, bird catchers, and tattooers.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
