life raft

American  

noun

1. a raft, often inflatable, for use in emergencies, as when a ship must be abandoned or when a plane is downed at sea.

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life raft British  

noun

1. a raft for emergency use at sea

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Etymology

Origin of life raft

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

life raft

Roughly half of the crew descended onto a life raft, ready to abandon the ship.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Carlson can sense a sinking ship, and he is jumping into a life raft.

From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2026

"In the end, we just held on to the upside-down life raft and floated. We were floating at sea for more than three hours," he said.

From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026

Hudson encourages the audience to use Claire’s stubborn buoyancy and perky accent as a life raft when Lightning & Thunder are deluged by extremely bad luck.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025

So the sound of helium-pitched cartoon characters had to be the life raft for this sinking ship of awkwardness.

From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds

Related Words

• lifeboat
• rowboat
• skiff