yacht
Americannoun
-
yachts
plural
verb (used without object)
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yachts,
present (3rd person singular)
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yachted,
past participle, past
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yachting
present participle
noun
-
a vessel propelled by sail or power, used esp for pleasure cruising, racing, etc
-
short for sand yacht ice yacht
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
yachtsimple
-
yachtssimple
-
have yachtedperfect
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has yachtedperfect
-
am yachtingprogressive
-
are yachtingprogressive
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is yachtingprogressive
-
have been yachtingperfect progressive
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has been yachtingperfect progressive
Past
-
yachtedsimple
-
had yachtedperfect
-
was yachtingprogressive
-
were yachtingprogressive
-
had been yachtingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of yacht
1550–60; < early Dutch jaght, short for jaghtschip hunting ship, equivalent to Dutch jacht hunt (derivative of jagen to hunt) + schip ship 1
Compare meaning
How does yacht compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A yacht is an upscale boat — often a sailboat — that is used for cruising or racing. If you're on a cargo ship, you're probably at work; if you're on a yacht, it's probably your day off. While today a yacht is usually a pleasure vessel, and associated with wealth and recreation, its origins are anything but: the word yacht comes from the early modern Dutch jaghtschip, which referred to “a fast pirate ship,” and jacht meant “hunting.” You won’t find many yachts doing any hunting today — but you might find one cruising around the bay or parked at the yacht club. Yacht can also be a verb meaning to travel in a yacht.
Vocabulary lists containing yacht
Seas The Day: Words That Shore Are Beachy
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for August 17–August 23, 2024
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 15–February 21, 2026
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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:
Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump first got interested in Albania while on a yacht trip through the Mediterranean after Trump’s first term, dropping anchor en route between Montenegro and Greece.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
It was Cecil Wright that brought the yacht to Storonsky’s attention and introduced the Revolut co-founder and Dovigi, the broker says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
He owned a 56-foot yacht he named Silver Lining, and authorities said he was known as a master yachtsman and a world traveler.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
The frigate fired warning shots as Jane and Alan Kelvey sailed their yacht on what Russia's defence ministry said had been a "dangerous approach".
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
"The pompadour! You never told me you had a pompadour--or a yacht."
From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Newly enriched Americans are bound to spend some of their windfall on new cars, yachts, houses and the like.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
The public official is accused of lodging without permission on two docked yachts that did not belong to her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
He has appeared in countless videos, flaunting an ultra-luxurious lifestyle of fast cars, private jets, and yachts.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Later, the sessions for 1977’s “London Town” were recorded in a studio they built in one of three yachts anchored off the coast of the Virgin Islands.
From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026
Brass bands on the quayside and women waving and a hundred thousand yachts and honkers and arcs of water from the fireships.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
It didn't occasion any loud comments from nobility or clergy when the King yachted to Yugoslavia with Mrs. Simpson.
From Time Magazine Archive
All last summer Queen & Daughter yachted and toured in Scandinavia.
From Time Magazine Archive
He yachted in summer and sat with equally well-bred companions in the posh Carlton Club in winter.
From Time Magazine Archive
She may repeat the furore created when King George's mother, Denmark's radiant Alexandra, was similarly yachted to Britain to marry the future Edward VII.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Yes, I yachted along the coast from Bar Harbor to Portland one summer."
From The Opened Shutters by Clara Louise Burnham
A yachting incident intensified the rivalry between Turner and Murdoch in 1983 when a Murdoch-sponsored yacht collided with Turner's in the Sydney-Hobart race, sinking Turner's schooner.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
It isn’t hard to think that Jeff Bezos left his role as Amazon.com’s CEO to enjoy a slower life filled with yachting and celebrity parties.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 23, 2025
Ellison's extracurricular activity to date has tended to skew toward yachting, tennis, anti-aging research and buying an island in Hawaii.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2025
Along the way, he wrote crime novels focused on the Orange County yachting set, upper-crust dog show fans, Palm Springs country clubs, the America’s Cup, and the Nobel Prize.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2025
Even as the last Americans were still passing Hitler, the first German athletes began to emerge from the tunnel, dressed in crisp white linen suits and sporting white yachting caps.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
