shipment

American

[ship-muhnt] / ˈʃɪp mənt /

noun

an act or instance of shipping freight or cargo.
a quantity of freight or cargo shipped at one time.
something that is shipped.

Synonyms:

consignment

shipment British

/ ˈʃɪpmənt /

noun

1. goods shipped together as part of the same lot
  
  a shipment of grain
2. ( as modifier )
  
  a shipment schedule
the act of shipping cargo

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Related Words

See freight.

Other Word Forms

misshipment noun
overshipment noun
preshipment noun
supershipment noun

Etymology

Origin of shipment

First recorded in 1790–1800; ship ¹ + -ment

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.

Commissioner Bob Crawford hand-delivered a 10-carton shipment to commemorate the event.

From Slate • Apr. 20, 2026

UPS also offers a service called Premier where customers shipping high-value items such as vaccines have access to real-time shipment tracking information.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

The situation looks to have only worsened, with local media reporting in late March that a shipment of more than 180,000 metric tons of fuel had failed to arrive, heightening supply concerns.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

Last week, a Russian-owned tanker carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of crude oil became the first crude oil shipment to dock in one of Cuba's ports since early January.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

For the next half hour, Ariana had me go through a shipment of strawberries and pick out all of the rotten ones.

From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023