How to Use tugboat in a Sentence

tugboat

noun
  • Even with the grant, that’s a lot of money to spend on a tugboat.
    — Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 June 2025
  • They in turn will be led by tugboats, which can better steer at low speed.
    — Steve Mollman, Quartz, 8 June 2019
  • By midday, tugboats took the lead to part ice for ferries.
    — Vanessa Murdock, CBS News, 28 Jan. 2026
  • Videos show a tugboat was close to the Cuauhtémoc at the time of the crash.
    — Ruth Brown, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2025
  • Videos show a tugboat that was close to the Cuauhtémoc at the time of the crash.
    — Danielle Wallace , Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 18 May 2025
  • The Dali backed away from the site and was escorted in by tugboats.
    — Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 20 May 2024
  • Covert is retired from the Navy, sailing the world on a tugboat.
    — Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY, 30 Sep. 2022
  • This improves safety on board both the vessel and the tugboat.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 14 Feb. 2020
  • Around that time, the ship’s pilots called for tugboats to come help guide the wayward vessel.
    — Lea Skene, Fortune, 15 May 2024
  • Three deckhands on a second boat were injured when the tugboat crashed while trying to dock.
    — Laura McKnight, NOLA.com, 8 May 2018
  • His father was a tugboat captain who was often away for long stretches.
    — Rhett Bartlett, HollywoodReporter, 17 Aug. 2025
  • The bridge stands about 25 feet above the water, which is why even the tugboats couldn’t fit beneath it.
    — Paul Berger, WSJ, 2 June 2018
  • That dude was sinking fast and the R's pretty much sent him the tugboat and life jacket.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 22 June 2026
  • Parish blew the tugboat’s horn, to the delight of waving passengers.
    — Hayes Gardner, Baltimore Sun, 20 June 2024
  • One was heavy enough to secure the tugboat; Lind sold it to Danielson for the price of the raw iron.
    — Tessa Stuart, Rolling Stone, 23 Apr. 2026
  • After striking the buoy, the boat hit a tugboat, took on water and capsized, Cross said.
    — Jean Marbella, baltimoresun.com, 11 Oct. 2019
  • Pamyua played while the sun set behind Mount Susitna and tugboats passed behind them.
    — Marc Lester, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Apr. 2020
  • Those protests started at the dock office, where tugboats, pilot boats and mooring boats are all deployed.
    — Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 3 Feb. 2026
  • Some rescuers worked from a tent set up on the deck of a tugboat off the ship's stern, while smaller boats and helicopters buzzed around.
    — CBS News, 9 Sep. 2019
  • So, yes, while the 1 weighs like a tugboat, much of that mass is slung deep and square in the midst of four insanely grippy tires.
    — Dan Neil, WSJ, 15 Oct. 2020
  • The small harbor tugboat tows vessels to and from the Marine Group’s boat lift piers and docks.
    — Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 June 2025
  • Besides the two submarines, the convoy included a frigate and a tugboat.
    — CBS News, 24 Sep. 2024
  • The tugboat in Texas was pushing bunker barges, which are fuel barges for ships, Flores said.
    — Juan Lozano, Fortune, 16 May 2024
  • It was refloated and moved to the Port of Baltimore by five tugboats last month.
    — Hayes Gardner, Baltimore Sun, 27 June 2024
  • There was a tugboat shooting water with a fire hose and the Twin Towers in the background.
    — Jessica Matlin, Harper's BAZAAR, 7 Sep. 2021
  • Currence’s first kitchen job was cooking for a crew on a tugboat in the Gulf of Mexico.
    — Matt Wake | [email protected], al, 21 Jan. 2021
  • Babb has access to a tugboat, and wonders if the family would like to see where Mitchell first found the bottle.
    — Zulekha Nathoo, USA TODAY, 4 Aug. 2022
  • It had been brought down the river from a quarry by one of three METS tugboats.
    — Patrick McGeehan, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2023
  • The crew detached the tugboat from the barge to break ice and forge a path back toward the Kuskokwim River.
    — Greg Kim, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Nov. 2021
  • The tugboat is completely overturned, and Spencer and Alexander are no where in sight.
    — Matt Cabral, EW.com, 6 Feb. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tugboat.' 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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