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Showing results for steamboat. Search instead for team boat.
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 extension of canals and steamboat travel to some extent complemented, rather than competed with, the road’s livelihood.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 24, 2026

So did Jean Sherrard and I. Indirectly, the needs and wants of us and our collective forebears are why this section of the Snoqualmie River hasn’t seen a paddle-driven steamboat in well over a century.

From Seattle Times Jun. 15, 2023

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

Developments in transportation and communications technology, especially the locomotive, steamboat, and telegraph, transformed the way their citizens lived, traveled, and worked.

From Textbooks Dec. 14, 2022

My favorite is the picture of a steamboat churning up the Mississippi.

From "Ninth Ward" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

“Too many people that don’t know Mississippi think of it as a river, steamboats and some old guy strumming a banjo on a broken porch,” says Mr. Carswell.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 29, 2025

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

The lake, which was once navigated by steamboats, had evaporated into dusty salt flats after the aqueduct was completed in 1913.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 25, 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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