spaceship

American  

[speys-ship] / ˈspeɪsˌʃɪp /

noun

1. spacecraft.

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spaceship British  

/ ˈspeɪsˌʃɪp /

noun

1. a manned spacecraft

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Etymology

Origin of spaceship

First recorded in 1940–45; space + ship ¹

Explanation

A vehicle that travels outside the earth's atmosphere is a spaceship. If you want to walk around on the moon some day, you'll have to get there in a spaceship. Any craft that carries people or equipment through space is a spaceship, though you could also call it a "rocket ship." Traveling through the universe, far from Earth or just outside its atmosphere, definitely requires a spaceship. Spaceship was originally borrowed from 19th- and 20th-century science fiction, and even today the term is considered less scientific than spacecraft or space vehicle.

Example Sentences

Growing up in rural Canada, he turned his treehouse into an imaginary spaceship after seeing a photograph of Buzz Aldrin standing on the lunar surface.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026

Ryan Gosling stars in the film as a teacher-turned-astronaut who awakes on a spaceship with a mission to save Earth from a sun-dimming phenomenon.

From Barron's • Mar. 22, 2026

We learn all of this via flashbacks interspersed throughout the present-day trials of Dr. Grace after he wakes up, clueless, on a spaceship extremely far from home.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

In the Galacticoaster, for instance, riders will build a virtual approximation of a spaceship from a touchscreen, selecting options for wings, cannons and more.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026

For a few disorienting seconds, I thought I was still on the spaceship.

From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson

Related Words

• booster
• firework
• intercontinental ballistic missile
• missile
• spacecraft
• torpedo
• weapon