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:
She even sought out McDonald, another yacht rock OG, for a collab that didn’t end up making the LP, which expanded beyond her original premise as her listening broadened along with her cooking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Alas, the yacht was then smoked by New Zealand’s Black Magic I.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Aqua Lares Aqua Expeditions’ yacht, launched in February, sails the country’s inner and outer islands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Those on the yacht stayed onboard the vessel while it was towed by the RNLI, who said there were no injuries.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
The Filipinos loved him; Marcos entertained him at the palace and on his yacht; Marcos’s wife, Imelda, dined with him at lunch; young ladies gathered around him constantly, as if he were a movie star.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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
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
He has appeared in countless videos, flaunting a luxurious lifestyle of fast cars, private jets and yachts.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 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
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
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
For the pleasure of astonishing the world, no sacrifice was too costly; and whether he rode, or shot, or played, or yachted, his first thought was notoriety.
From That Boy Of Norcott's by Charles James Lever
According to the account of solo sailing that Cole Brauer gives in her memoir, “First Light,” the internet has become an integral part of long-haul yachting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
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
While the furniture and housing industries also use old-growth teak, they have generally found it easier to substitute plantation teak than the yachting industry, he adds.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
A large photograph of an elderly man in yachting costume attracted me, hung on the wall over his desk.
From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
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.
