How to Use first mate in a Sentence

first mate

noun
  • The two fishermen and their first mate, Rex Lane, were speechless.
    — Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 18 June 2025
  • Sinise played Gump's commanding officer and first mate in the film.
    — Diana Leyva, The Tennessean, 3 July 2024
  • But, by dint of her gender, when their story was told, Maurice was cast as the captain and she as first mate.
    — Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 9 July 2025
  • Later in the morning, Abzal’s first mate found a vape pen and blunt wrapper on the boat, according to the proffer.
    — Madeline Buckley, Chicago Tribune, 5 Feb. 2026
  • The captain is a local guide, the first mate is the chef, and the nightly rate includes housekeeping, meals, drinks, snorkel equipment, and more.
    — Meagan Drillinger, Travel + Leisure, 24 Aug. 2023
  • Batu, a yellow Lab whom people liked to call Lipscomb’s first mate, stirred beneath a blanket on the engine cover.
    — Ben McGrath, The New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2025
  • My first mate, Teeshy McGann, informed me that an unexpected storm was moving in from the east.
    — Mike O’Brien, The New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2023
  • Reynolds claimed to have met the first mate of a whale ship who battled the great one with a darting harpoon and hundreds of feet of 3/4-inch line flying from the rope tub.
    — Literary Hub, 12 Aug. 2025
  • The first mate directed the ship to hug the shore, but the captain, Frederick Burke, overrode him, ordering the men to press on.
    — Ellen Wexler, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Feb. 2024
  • The pilot and the ship's first mate navigated the vessel to the terminal without incident, the release said.
    — Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Aug. 2025
  • Every one of the gangs had a first mate that ended up turning on their boss to rid themself of the boot on their neck — the very waters the Penguin swam in long enough to know how to rule them.
    — Andy Andersen, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024
  • The boat is piloted by a licensed captain and first mate, and includes a doctor, while Dreyer acts as a rescue swimmer for anyone struggling in the water.
    — John Carlisle, Freep.com, 11 Aug. 2025
  • Klaus is Zissou’s emotionally fragile first mate, a role that Dafoe digs into with real exuberance.
    — Joe Reid, Vulture, 26 June 2023
  • The film sees Steamboat Willie’s first mate, Minnie, go on a killing spree when seeking revenge against the childhood bullies who tortured her as a teenager.
    — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 30 June 2025
  • Unaware that Dracula is onboard, the captain writes how, over the course of their journey, crew members went missing until just he and the first mate were left on the Demeter.
    — Megan McCluskey, Time, 11 Aug. 2023
  • Dreyer said the team is composed of a licensed captain and first mate, a paramedic, a doctor, a rescue swimmer (Dreyer himself) and a documentary crew.
    — Emma George-Griffin, Freep.com, 15 July 2025
  • The Arlington's first mate, Junis Macksey, ordered the ship to sail close to the Canadian shore to the north to provide some cover from the swirling winds and waves.
    — Patrick Smith, NBC News, 13 Feb. 2024
  • The captain's descriptions of goings-on aboard the ship begin ordinarily enough, but within days of being at sea, the ship's first mate disappeared, and before long the crew and passengers were being picked off one by one each night.
    — Philip Ellis, Men's Health, 11 Aug. 2023
  • The Arlington started to take on water and the ship's first mate, Junis Macksey, ordered a course to hug the Canadian north shore, which would have provided some cover from wind and waves.
    — Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2024
  • Confusing his crew and directly defying his first mate — who suggested taking some cover with a safer, shore-hugging route — Captain Burke ordered the 244-foot ship to stay its course across the open water, per the historical society.
    — Bailey Richards, Peoplemag, 14 Feb. 2024
  • After boarding the ship Wednesday, Homendy said, investigators began interviews with the crew — including the captain, chief engineer and first mate — and would continue questioning its members Thursday.
    — Darcy Costello, Baltimore Sun, 27 Mar. 2024
  • Reynolds and first mate Zoë Washburne (Gina Torres) have more reason than most to mistrust this totalitarian government, having fought for the losing Independents (known colloquially as Browncoats) in a brutal civil war against the Alliance.
    — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 30 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'first mate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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