trimaran

American  

[trahy-muh-ran] / ˈtraɪ məˌræn /

noun

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

---

trimaran British  

/ ˈtraɪməˌræn /

noun

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

---

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

In his 12-meter Olympus Photo trimaran, Birch pipped Frenchman Michel Malinovsky’s bigger, more powerful monohull to the line.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 26, 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

In many ways, it was a moment that defined the last five years for Sea Shepherd, the vigilante conservation group to which the trimaran belonged.

From The Guardian • 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