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Synonyms

steamboat

American  
[steem-boht] / ˈstimˌboʊt /

noun

  • steamboats
    plural
  1. a steam-driven vessel, especially a small one or one used on inland waters.


steamboat British  
/ ˈstiːmˌbəʊt /

noun

  1. a boat powered by a steam engine

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of steamboat

An Americanism dating back to 1775–85; steam + boat

Vocabulary lists containing steamboat

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:

The steamboat reversed this flow, reshaping the antebellum economy decades before the railroad.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 24, 2026

The idea, in its early conceptions, included much of what would later make its way to Disneyland — a train, a steamboat and less detailed versions of Main Street and a Frontierland.

From Los Angeles Times May 13, 2025

The charge is a pre-Civil War statute colloquially known as seaman’s manslaughter that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters.

From Seattle Times May 1, 2024

Four years after completing her studies, Flora married Edwin Patterson of Ripley, Ohio, and they settled in nearby Cincinnati where he was a steamboat pilot.

From Scientific American Jan. 26, 2023

For example, in 1837 the Mandan Indian tribe, with one of the most elaborate cultures in our Great Plains, contracted smallpox from a steamboat traveling up the Missouri River from St. Louis.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

The number of steamboats on Western U.S. rivers grew to 740 by 1850 from 17 in 1817.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 24, 2026

Bucky would tell you that the hotel was built in 1847 and guests originally traveled by steamboats to enjoy their holiday by the bay.

From Salon May 4, 2023

Treichel describes a wide variety of creations from the children, ranging from harbor ships to steamboats.

From Seattle Times May 1, 2023

In the mid-1800s, as white settlers moved west, steamboats chugged up the lower Colorado River, paddlewheels turning.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 26, 2023

A fish market was coming to life along the avenue, and the shouts of merchants mixed with the caws of seagulls and rumble of steamboats coming in to port.

From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older

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