sloop
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of sloop
1620–30; < Dutch sloep; akin to Old English slūpan to glide
Compare meaning
How does sloop compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A sailboat with one mast is known as a sloop. In general, sloops are known as speedy boats that are relatively simple to rig with sails. If you spot a sailboat with a single mast and two sails, it's almost certainly a sloop. Sloops come in many sizes, from small dinghies to 100-foot sailboats. What they have in common is the way they're rigged, or how their sails and masts are organized. A sloop's rigging is usually "fore and aft," with one sail in front of the mast and one behind it. The word sloop comes from the Middle Dutch slupen, "to glide."
Vocabulary lists containing sloop
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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This Side of Wild
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The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
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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.
Marks told Barron’s in 2021 that he owns a Danish-built sloop named Linnea that he had been fixing up for years, and sailed it in the Chesapeake Bay.
From Barron's • Oct. 7, 2025
I had a Baltic 37, a sloop, that was a beautiful sailing boat, and I’d go out with a couple of friends and enjoy the day.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 13, 2024
Morford-Haines returned to Seattle from Alaska, bought a 25-foot sloop and taught herself to sail.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 4, 2023
But as the ocean surged and winds surpassed 100 mph, the anchor ripped away from the vessel, Burki said, flinging the slender, longhaired mariner and his sloop ashore over the tops of trees and shrubs.
From Washington Post • Oct. 8, 2022
It’s something about chemistry and biology making some valve in your guts open up and ... woop, zoop, sloop ... you got a wet bed.
From "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
