seafarer
Americannoun
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a sailor.
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a traveler on the sea.
noun
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a traveller who goes by sea
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a less common word for sailor
Etymology
Origin of seafarer
First recorded in 1505–15; sea + fare ( def. ) + -er 1 ( def. )
Vocabulary lists containing seafarer
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.
In the wee hours of Sunday, Herambh Karmarkar’s wife received two messages from her seafarer husband, who was aboard a ship that had just safely crossed the Strait of Hormuz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
"If I was a seafarer, I'd be very worried."
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
One email seen by AFP came from a seafarer asking to confirm whether his salary would go from $16 a day to $32 because he was in a designated war zone.
From Barron's ● Mar. 29, 2026
Zheng He, a 15th-century Chinese seafarer, visited the strait, and Marco Polo wrote about risk-taking mariners there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 21, 2026
As Penelope already knew, Simon’s great-uncle Pudge was very old and had been a seafarer in his youth; now he lived in a home for old sailors in the city of Brighton, near the sea.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
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.
