yacht
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
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a vessel propelled by sail or power, used esp for pleasure cruising, racing, etc
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short for sand yacht ice yacht
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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yachtsimple
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yachtssimple
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have yachtedperfect
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has yachtedperfect
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am yachtingprogressive
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are yachtingprogressive
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is yachtingprogressive
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have been yachtingperfect progressive
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has been yachtingperfect progressive
Past
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yachtedsimple
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had yachtedperfect
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was yachtingprogressive
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were yachtingprogressive
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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 entrepreneur has a $3.8 million 55-foot Valhalla sport yacht powered by four 600-hp engines, which have turned the roughly 60-mile trip between Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Bimini in the Bahamas into a lunchtime jaunt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Domenick Yazzolino, reported that authorities got a call about a burglary and found Forbes inside a yacht that didn’t belong to her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was aboard Kim’s 95-foot, two-story yacht last summer, according to photos in Russian state media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Later that year, Bannon was arrested on Guo's yacht in Connecticut.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
Temperamentally speaking, Penelope was more of a pencil sharpener than a yacht buyer.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
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
After all, there’s typically little impact to ordinary consumers or the economy at large if prices for yachts increase.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 13, 2026
The firm handles everything from background checks on dog walkers to paying bills tied to homes and yachts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
"We're not going on fancy yachts and driving expensive cars. We are doing it so we can regenerate our areas that we're in, employ more people."
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
Far downstream, twinkling lights began to appear at the portholes of some of the larger yachts anchored near the finish line.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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
He yachted in summer and sat with equally well-bred companions in the posh Carlton Club in winter.
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 Paterson, A. B. (Andrew Barton)
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
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
After lounging on Hawaii’s beaches and yachting in Sicily, a new star-studded cast has headed to Thailand for a luxurious, deadly vacation in “The White Lotus.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
A few days later he took him to Duluth and bought him a blue coat, six pair of white duck trousers and a yachting cap.
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.
