sailing 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of sailingnext
as in hovering

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sailing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of sail
1
as in cruising
to travel on water in a vessel I can't sail when there's any breeze at all because I get seasick easily

Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in flowing
to move or proceed smoothly and readily sailed through the latest assignment

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in floating
to rest or move along the surface of a liquid or in the air a leaf sailed by, carried by the breeze

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of sailing
Verb
Charging infrastructure at ports would supply the electricity needed for operation, allowing the concept to avoid direct carbon emissions while sailing. — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 23 Oct. 2026 Chuck Zimmerman, who is described by his supporters as a Navy veteran who was intercepted by the Russian navy while sailing in international waters. — Ivana Kottasová, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026 One tanker is now sailing toward Poland through the Red Sea, according to Bloomberg, and at least 20 more shipments have passed through the Strait of Hormuz to other destinations since early September. — semafor.com, 20 Oct. 2026 Travelers have named their favorite cruise lines for sailing aboard some of the biggest ships at sea. — Kelly McGreal, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2026 The unfortunate crew of the doomed vessel were likely sailing to the west when disaster struck, the researchers wrote in a study about the wreck that was published earlier this year. — Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2026 The fourth ship was identified as the Al Saadiyat, sailing under the Marshall Islands flag. — Mark Osborne, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026 Launched last year, Louis Vuitton’s multiyear partnership with Real Madrid marked yet another high-profile sports deal for the world’s biggest luxury brand, which is active in disciplines ranging from sailing to Formula 1. — Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 13 Oct. 2026 The cargo ship Able was carrying wheat and sailing south when the drones attacked, while the Alfa Watan was heading north with the cargo being unknown. — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 6 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sailing
  1. hovering
  2. cruising
  3. flowing
  4. floating
  5. gliding
  6. boating
  7. drifting
  8. swimming
Adjective
  • The drones then find the best hovering altitude before each lining up to spray the fire, one after the other.
    — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 20 July 2026
  • He-Man was now a jolly, quip-ready hero, whose best friends were scaredy-cat Cringer (a green-and-yellow tiger who transformed into Battle Cat), and an annoying, hovering magician called Orko.
    — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 1 June 2026
Definition of hovering
Verb
  • Gazza, who has been cruising along all episode, doesn’t bowl the judges over with his treacle pudding or his Black Forest gâteau, which is a little bit shocking.
    — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2026
  • If Mick hadn’t come cruising into that playground, lights off?
    — George Saunders, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of cruising
Verb
  • About two-thirds of S&P 500 returns since 2024 have come from 42 AI stocks and almost all of the venture dollars this year are flowing into AI, with some firms nearing trillion-dollar valuations.
    — Diane Brady, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026
  • There's a substantial amount of money flowing through the political texting business, and the people sending these messages have financial reasons to keep doing it.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of flowing
Verb
  • Vincent Fiordilino was found floating face-down in an in-ground pool during a Super Bowl gathering at the family's home in Gilbert, Arizona, according to police.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Those little pieces floating around in there that can’t get out.
    — Rachel Handler, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of floating
Adjective
  • In addition, the action includes top-tier spider combat and awesome web-slinging and web-gliding traversal abilities.
    — George Yang, PC Magazine, 1 May 2026
Definition of gliding
Verb
  • Naya Rivera, who played cheerleader Santana Lopez, died in an accidental drowning while boating with her 4-year-old son on a California lake in 2020.
    — Saba Hamedy, NBC news, 21 Oct. 2026
  • In the years since the series concluded, another loss was suffered as Rivera, who played Santana Lopez, died from drowning in 2020 after going boating with her four-year-old son.
    — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of boating
Verb
  • Three-times married, his was to be a literary career pock-marked by substance abuse issues leading to a peripatetic existence drifting from one august institution to another.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Toxic haze has covered parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts of Borneo and Sumatra, with the smoke drifting across the region.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of drifting
Verb
  • It’s estimated about 25% of the sunscreen people apply to their skin washes off while swimming or wading in the ocean.
    — Matthew Perrone, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026
  • For twenty years, McCarthy has been swimming against the current, writing novels that reflect, with unusual intensity, his disdain for the conventional underpinnings of literary fiction.
    — Max Callimanopulos, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of swimming

Browse Nearby Words

sailers
sailing
sailing into
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Cite this Entry

“Sailing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sailing. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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