sailboat
Americannoun
-
sailboats
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sailboat
Compare meaning
How does sailboat compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A sailboat is a relatively small boat that uses wind power to propel it forward. When the wind is strong enough, sailboats can move very quickly. Ahoy! Sailboats, called sailing boats in Britain, can have anywhere from one to as many as five sails. Larger water vessels that move using sails are distinguished as "sailing ships" rather than sailboats. You might take a tour on a schooner, a large sailboat with two masts, or take a sailing lesson in a small, single-sail dingy. No matter which kind of sailboat, it moves by angling its sails into the wind.
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 Coast Guard did not say what caused the sailboat to run aground.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
Boatsetter made the booking easy, and because the sailboat was captained by its owner, all I really had to worry about was keeping dinner from burning.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
But he might be more fired up about selling his sailboat and using the money to buy undeveloped property in the hinterlands of Appalachian Tennessee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Held at the 1971 crab derby in Crisfield, Md., it drew less attention than sailboat races, greased pig contests and the crowning of Miss Crustacean.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
“The building creaks. It’s so strange. It sounds like the sailboat my father used to take out on Lake Kariba. I wish I was there now.”
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
He had a Clark Gable pencil mustache, raced sailboats, cavorted with the late communist leader Fidel Castro in Cuba, and at one point married Academy Award-winning actress and activist Jane Fonda.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026
"Mexican authorities have activated their search and rescue protocol for two sailboats en route to Havana as part of the Convoy, which have not yet arrived," a spokesperson for the convoy told AFP.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
A search and rescue operation is under way in the Caribbean for two missing sailboats filled with humanitarian supplies travelling from Mexico to Cuba.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
MFA’s example from that summer, “Three Boys on a Beached Dory,” is a charming grisaille work depicting the children, wearing broad-brimmed hats, looking at sailboats on the horizon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
I could look out over the hodgepodge of the business district and see the white-capped waves of Lake Michigan, which in summertime were dotted with bright sailboats.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
