raft
1 Americannoun
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a more or less rigid floating platform made of buoyant material or materials.
an inflatable rubber raft.
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a collection of logs, planks, casks, etc., fastened together for floating on water.
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Building Trades. a slab of reinforced concrete providing a footing on yielding soil, usually for a whole building, so that the weight of the soil that would be displaced by the settlement of the building exceeds the weight of the building itself; mat.
verb (used with object)
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rafts,
present (3rd person singular)
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rafted,
past participle, past
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rafting
present participle
-
to transport on a raft.
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to form (logs or the like) into a raft.
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to travel or cross by raft.
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(of an ice floe) to transport (embedded organic or rock debris) from the shore out to sea.
verb (used without object)
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rafts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rafted,
past participle, past
-
rafting
present participle
-
to use a raft; go or travel on a raft.
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(of an ice floe) to overlap another ice floe.
noun
noun
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a buoyant platform of logs, planks, etc, used as a vessel or moored platform
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a thick slab of reinforced concrete laid over soft ground to provide a foundation for a building
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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raftsimple
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raftssimple
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have raftedperfect
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has raftedperfect
-
am raftingprogressive
-
are raftingprogressive
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is raftingprogressive
-
have been raftingperfect progressive
-
has been raftingperfect progressive
Past
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raftedsimple
-
had raftedperfect
-
was raftingprogressive
-
were raftingprogressive
-
had been raftingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of raft1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English raft(e), “(wooden) beam, spear,” from Old Norse raptr rafter 1
Origin of raft2
An Americanism dating back to 1825–35; variant of raff
Explanation
A raft is a vessel or structure that's made to float on water. You might have an inflatable raft you use for floating around your backyard pool. Rafts come in many forms, from soft and squishy to wooden and permanent, like the rafts built on lakes for swimmers to rest on and dive off. Other rafts are mobile — they're small, flat boats meant for transporting people or goods across a river, for example. If you raft, you travel by raft. Experts guess that raft comes from the Old Norse word raptr, "log."
Vocabulary lists containing raft
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:
On the positive side of the ledger, analysts say the central bank has introduced a raft of innovations under Lagarde's leadership that could help it cope with a more uncertain world.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
The raft of filings are reminiscent of SpaceX’s hotly anticipated initial public offering in June.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
Locals share where to eat, soak, hike and raft in one of the West’s least crowded wine regions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
He has not missed an international since a raft of players were rested for the T20 series in Ireland last September.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Our compass-sized needle floated in our bowl of water on its little wax paper raft, pointing north, at me.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
A Bulgarian vessel was close by, but when they arrived all they saw was an overturned boat and rafts as well as life jackets.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
The ship was equipped with 250 life jackets, two lifeboats and six inflatable rafts, Edghill said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026
“He’s landing rockets on robot drone rafts in the ocean, and you’re saying he doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Ellison rebuffed critics at the time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
No, the truly strange thing — still remarkable to experience among thousands — is the way their fame is grounded in epic rafts of sci-fi nerdiness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
It was like a library in there, tall stacks of rods, shirts, hats, pants, shoes and jackets, and tennis rackets and inflatable rafts lining the narrow aisles.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
These vessels were anchored and at times rafted together waiting for mother ships to come and be refilled around the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex on the Malaysian side of the Singapore Strait.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
In June, they rafted the South Fork of the American River, along with stops in Old Sacramento and, last of all, Columbia State Historic Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The first mammal from South America discovered in the older beds was from a primate species, which is presumed to have rafted across the seaway.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2024
In Wyoming, the Thomases fished, rafted on the Snake River and sat by a campfire overlooking the Teton Range with the other couples.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2023
“NOTES: “Today I rafted out into the deep pools of the creek to fish.
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
Young people go white-water rafting at the Alzar School, which splits time between Idaho and Chilean Patagonia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
The theme park’s latest project is a more than $50 million indoor thrill coaster with white-water rafting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026
"I used to be a person who loved the outdoors, canoeing, kayaking and white water rafting to where I am now and I just want to get back to that."
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
Marczak said he had begun the film almost by accident, when he and his wife were rafting down the river thinking about a fiction project when they ran into trouble.
From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026
When I was finally allowed to read it, I very well knew this was no simple tale of rafting down a river but the everlasting story of America itself, with all our glory and shame.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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