trimaran

American  

[trahy-muh-ran] / ˈtraɪ məˌræn /

noun

1. a vessel similar to a catamaran but having three separate hulls.

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trimaran British  

/ ˈtraɪməˌræn /

noun

1. a vessel, usually of shallow draught, with two hulls flanking the main hull

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Etymology

Origin of trimaran

First recorded in 1950–55; tri- + (cata)maran

Example Sentences

Another competitor was a tech whiz who packed his plywood trimaran with electronic gizmos.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025

The sleek autonomous trimaran docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Sunday, after more than five weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean from England, according to tech company IBM, which helped build it.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 5, 2022

In the 2013 edition of the biennial race, Sangmeister’s trimaran hit six telephone poles in a debris field from the 2011 tsunami.

From Washington Times • Jul. 17, 2015

Roger Mann, a helicopter mechanic from South Carolina, set forth in his solo pedal-sail trimaran with water-purifying equipment, solar-powered lights and tubes of zinc oxide cream for the blisters he expected.

From New York Times • Jun. 5, 2015

Nailer was running a message to the Ladee Bar from the first officer of the Gossamer, a sleek trimaran with fixed wind-wing sails and an impressive Buckell cannon on its foredeck, when everything went wrong.

From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi