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
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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:
The yacht must also be loaded with boxes of food and supplies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
The yacht lost all power and steering after making contact with a fish farm in Red Bay, in 60 knots of wind, causing it to become trapped.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
What it might be like to arrive at a Mediterranean island on a yacht and to think that the next logical step is that this island should belong to you.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
The proceeds bought a Chicago-area mansion, a private jet and a 12,000-square-foot waterfront home in Naples, Fla., with its own dock to moor his 130-foot yacht, Top Dog.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
"The pompadour! You never told me you had a pompadour--or a yacht."
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
Doctors at country clubs, doctors at the seaside, doctors with mistresses, doctors with wives, doctors in church, doctors in yachts, doctors everywhere resolutely being people, not doctors.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
He yachted in summer and sat with equally well-bred companions in the posh Carlton Club in winter.
From Time Magazine Archive
He has yachted from blazing Syria to arctic Spitsbergen.
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
It didn't occasion any loud comments from nobility or clergy when the King yachted to Yugoslavia with Mrs. Simpson.
From Time Magazine Archive
They were flat-sided, long-legged, long-nosed, and had large bristling manes—showed, in fact, every sign of reverting to the type of the original pig that yachted with Noah.
From Outback Marriage, an : a story of Australian life by A. B. (Andrew Barton) Paterson
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
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
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.
