- present participle of sail.
sailing
Americannoun
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the activity of a person or thing that sails.
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the departure of a ship from port.
The cruise line offers sailings every other day.
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Navigation. any of various methods for determining courses and distances by means of charts or with reference to longitudes and latitudes, rhumb lines, great circles, etc.
noun
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the practice, art, or technique of sailing a vessel
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a method of navigating a vessel
rhumb-line sailing
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an instance of a vessel's leaving a port
scheduled for a midnight sailing
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sailing
before 900; Middle English seiling, Old English seglung. See sail, -ing 1
Explanation
The activity or sport of riding in a boat that's propelled by the wind is sailing. If not even the slightest breeze is blowing, it's not a great day for sailing. Sailing can be as simple as jumping aboard a friend's sailboat and taking a ride on a lake. Being in charge of piloting the boat, shifting the sails, and keeping it moving on the water, is also sailing. If you're curious how it's done, you can take sailing lessons!
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.
Sue says there were only two half days of sailing where people could actually experience a river cruise.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
We got lost once, and our entourage received several perplexed glances from workers, but otherwise it was smooth sailing.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
"Most German ship captains say, that's too shallow, I'm not sailing there anymore," Matthias Roeser, from the German Inland Shipping Association, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
The fort’s new governor, Stephen Hendrik de la Sablonière, and his wife, Beata—Nieuwenhuijsen’s ancestors—arrived in early 1769 after a 78-day sailing voyage when Eleonora was 12.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
At the end of the dock was the sailing ship Valerie.
From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis
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.
