How to Use paddle wheel in a Sentence

paddle wheel

noun
  • The former pleasure cruiser was 180 feet long, with paddle wheels on both sides of its hull.
    — Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 19 July 2017
  • The gentle current, kicked up by a creaky paddle wheel, terrifies nobody.
    — James Marcus, The New Yorker, 29 Oct. 2019
  • His is a forward-looking fish farm, with electric paddle wheels to keep the water oxygenated.
    — The Economist, 15 Feb. 2018
  • Each holds 20 passengers and one captain who powers the craft via a pedal-drive paddle wheel.
    — Boston Herald Staff, Boston Herald, 13 Apr. 2026
  • That order sent the paddle wheel going and the deckhand was tragically killed.
    — Kaycee Sloan, Cincinnati Enquirer, 9 Oct. 2025
  • Lefebvre discovered a second paddle wheel in the vicinity of the first on a second trip.
    — Allen Kim, CNN, 9 Sep. 2020
  • The rear of the boat, where the Dixie II has its paddle wheel, is the stern, and that’s why she may be called a stern-wheeler.
    — Reed Parsell, Sacramento Bee, 25 Jan. 2024
  • The paddle wheel boat was off at 4 knots, heading downtown on the Cumberland River for the eclipse’s peak.
    — Kirsten Fiscus, The Tennessean, 8 Apr. 2024
  • The arrays slowly rotate like paddle wheels as the station flies through its orbit to maximize the amount of sunlight reaching the solar cells.
    — William Harwood, CBS News, 4 Oct. 2019
  • That left the vessels permanently docked - but still required to maintain an operational paddle wheel and a maritime crew.
    — Greg Larose, NOLA.com, 10 Feb. 2018
  • Chris Sabick identified the wreckage as being a paddle wheel belonging to the steamboat Phoenix.
    — Allen Kim, CNN, 9 Sep. 2020
  • In the second ad, algae is grown in little dishes, cultivated in a tiny seawater pond, and kept circulating by a minuscule paddle wheel.
    — Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2020
  • The paddle wheel has been updated over the years, but in the darkest hours of the night, workers still hear unexplained footsteps and whispers that often get attributed to Floyd.
    — Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 21 Oct. 2024
  • Until modern times, the operation was powered by water; on a wall was an old photo of Degrange’s father and grandfather, seated before a mill paddle wheel three times their height.
    — Bill Buford, The New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2020
  • Over 80 passengers and crew members were rescued Saturday night from Lake Conroe after a paddle wheel boat ran aground, officials said.
    — Gwendolyn Wu, Houston Chronicle, 8 Sep. 2019
  • The Catawba Queen is a replica Mississippi River paddle wheel boat that seats 149 passengers.
    — Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer, 16 Apr. 2024
  • On one overnight trip across the Channel, the ship’s paddle wheels churned up the glowing phosphorescence in the water, leaving a visible wake that made the 180-foot ship an easy target for German bombers.
    — Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 19 July 2017
  • Shallow waters in Mjosa, the country’s largest lake, kept its famed Skibladner paddle wheel boat tied up at port and prompted city officials in Oslo to send out text messages urging people to take shorter showers and avoid watering lawns.
    — New York Times, 18 Aug. 2022
  • The Catawba Queen, a Mississippi River paddle wheel boat, and the 93-foot Lady of the Lake luxury yacht continue to draw curiosity from the boating public.
    — Joe Marusak march 13, Charlotte Observer, 13 Mar. 2026

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

Last Updated: