dinghy
Americannoun
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any small boat designed as a tender or lifeboat, especially a small ship's boat, rowed, sailed, or driven by a motor.
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a boat used by warships, having four single-banked oars and a spritsail.
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any of various rowing or sailing boats used in sheltered waters along the Indian coasts to transport passengers and freight.
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an inflatable life raft.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dinghy
1785–95; < Bengali diṅgi, Hindi ḍiṅgī, diminutive of ḍiṅgā boat
Explanation
A long journey by sea requires a large ship, but if you’re out for an afternoon on the pond, you may want to take the dinghy, a small boat. A dinghy, pronounced "DING-ee," is a lifeboat found on board of a ship in case of emergency, but it can also be a rowboat used for fishing or just relaxing out on the water. The unusual spelling of this word reflects its exotic origins, in the Hindi word ḍiṅgī. Be sure to remember to include the silent “h” when you spell dinghy.
Vocabulary lists containing dinghy
Seas The Day: Words That Shore Are Beachy
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Flush
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Vocabulary from news articles about rescued teenage sailor
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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.
Alnour Mohamed Ali, a Sudanese national, was given a 27-month sentence having previously admitted to steering an extremely crowded dinghy carrying 74 people in April.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
An elite dinghy racer in his youth, he gave the Cup a whirl in 1974 on Mariner, a vessel he claimed would be an innovative breakthrough.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
The colonizers, four Chagossians aged 31 to 72, clambered aboard a dinghy and came ashore, waving British and American flags.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026
Some 39 people on a rubber dinghy were rescued on Thursday just south of Crete.
From Barron's • Dec. 26, 2025
Grandpa Bobby had already given Dad the full story, while they were out on the towboat searching for our dinghy.
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
