yacht
Americannoun
-
yachts
plural
verb (used without object)
-
yachts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
yachted,
past participle, past
-
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
-
has yachtedperfect
-
am yachtingprogressive
-
are yachtingprogressive
-
is yachtingprogressive
-
have been yachtingperfect progressive
-
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:
According to investigators, proceeds from the fund were used to bankroll high-end real estate, a luxury yacht and precious artworks, including a Monet and a Van Gogh.
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026
In “Green Gets It,” a man nearing 70 falls off a party yacht and flounders to the wharf.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
She’s matched with Blake, a 38-year-old yacht captain who has joked that he is “comically broke.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
Lake Como is 29 miles long and 2.5 miles wide in some parts - you also come across a yacht club and an 'Aero Club' for the sea-planes that take off at regular intervals.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
Then he drifted back to Lake Superior, and he was still searching for something to do on the day that Dan Cody's yacht dropped anchor in the shallows along shore.
From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. began to indict Russian oligarchs and seize yachts and other assets.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
Gibson, from Penbryn Nant, in Ruthin, Denbighshire, lied that he had been worth hundreds of millions of pounds, had served in the Special Boat Service, and owned yachts.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Over the years, however, Xu's taste for yachts and luxury clashed with President Xi Jinping's crackdown on extreme wealth as Beijing tightened its watch over corruption within the financial sector.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Newly enriched Americans are bound to spend some of their windfall on new cars, yachts, houses and the like.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Dozens of boats were moored at the docks—everything from fifty-foot yachts to ten-foot fishing boats.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
He has yachted from blazing Syria to arctic Spitsbergen.
From Time Magazine Archive
It didn't occasion any loud comments from nobility or clergy when the King yachted to Yugoslavia with Mrs. Simpson.
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
All last summer Queen & Daughter yachted and toured in Scandinavia.
From Time Magazine Archive
It turned my mind towards Egypt, which I have never seen, although I've yachted all over the place.
From Bella Donna A Novel by Robert Smythe Hichens
The pair have been photographed yachting in St. Tropez, holding hands in London and attending the premiere of the “Legally Blonde” prequel “Elle.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
The mustached southerner, yachting enthusiast and philanthropist, whose empire also included sports clubs, had been suffering from the degenerative disease Lewy Body Dementia.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
The Cryptolocker mastermind was eventually identified as Evgeniy Bogachev, a Russian national known to be fond of luxury cars and yachting on the Black Sea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Previous excuses for failing to file have included being up a mountain or yachting around the world.
From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2026
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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
