seaman
noun
a person skilled in seamanship.
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seaman
1 American
[see-muhn]
/ ˈsi mən /
noun
-
seamen
plural
-
a person skilled in seamanship.
-
a person whose trade or occupation is assisting in the handling, sailing, and navigating of a ship during a voyage, especially one below the rank of officer; sailor.
-
U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. an enlisted person ranking below petty officer.
Seaman
2
American
[see-muhn]
/ ˈsi mən /
noun
seaman
British
/ ˈsiːmən /
noun
-
a rating trained in seamanship as opposed to electrical engineering, etc
-
a man who serves as a sailor
-
a person skilled in seamanship
Synonym Usage
See sailor.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of seaman
First recorded before 900; Middle English seeman, Old English sǣmann. See sea, man
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:
It turns out the seaman had been running laps on a warship in the Charles de Gaulle’s carrier group.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
A family member told media outlets that his brother was an experienced seaman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
"We don't have enough water on board right now. We got food a few days back," said one Indian seaman stuck in a small refuelling boat off Iraq, within sight of the Iranian shore.
From Barron's ● Mar. 20, 2026
His performance as the naïve young seaman, hanged for killing an officer in self-defence, won him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2025
He was holding up the grappling-hook weapon as if he were a seaman about to harpoon a whale.
From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner
In 1945, MI5 opened a letter Hobsbawm wrote to his first wife, Muriel Seaman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
When Dave was fit again, he came back into the side - that was how Arsene operated, and he had made it clear at the start of the season that Seaman was his number one.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
Former Arsenal duo Lee Dixon and David Seaman were part of a formidable backline for the Gunners during the 1990s and early 2000s - and both also featured for England.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
Seaman, the Akamai researcher and a Big Pipes member, couldn’t believe what Brundage was picking up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
The first was built largely around a core of last year’s freshmen: Don Hume, the big powerful stroke; Gordy Adam at number seven; William Seaman at number six; and Johnny White at number four.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
But the FAA expressly excludes from arbitration “contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.”
From Slate ● Jun. 3, 2026
Whatever the weight, a falling pot always sends seamen scattering; the close calls have been many.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
But like many seamen, he says he needed the work.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026
The researchers have estimated that the proportion of lung cancers related to onboard asbestos exposure were of the order of 27 per cent in Australian seamen and 12 per cent in British seamen.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2023
It had been found instead by half-educated seamen prepared to stand on the deck of a ship in all weathers.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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