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Synonyms

U-boat

American  
[yoo-boht] / ˈjuˌboʊt /

noun

  1. a German submarine.


U-boat British  

noun

  1. a German submarine, esp in World Wars I and II

"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

Etymology

Origin of U-boat

1910–15; < German U-Boot, short for Unterseeboot literally, undersea boat


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 first dog sled patrols began in eastern Greenland during World War II, when they discovered and helped destroy German weather stations, denying the Germans crucial information for their U-boat campaign in the Atlantic.

From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026

For the most part, however, “Wolfpack” chronicles the misery, failure and deaths of U-boat crews.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025

But as happened elsewhere in the country, much of L.A.’s public German community went to ground after May 1915, when a German U-boat sank the British ocean liner Lusitania.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025

That included staffing her post as the news came in that a convoy escorted by her future husband’s ship, the destroyer HMS Oribi, had been attacked by a U-boat wolf pack.

From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2024

They received so many false reports of U-boat sightings that they dismissed this one as "dubious."

From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple

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