seaborne

adjective sea·borne \ ˈsē-ˌbȯrn \

|Updated on: 18 Jul 2018

Definition of seaborne

1 : borne over or on the sea

a seaborne invasion

2 : carried on by oversea shipping

seaborne trade

See seaborne defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of seaborne from the Web

It was seen as a warning to the world that Iran could block the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway for about one-third of global seaborne oil trade—a threat made before by Iran’s military, but not by this president.

— sune engel rasmussen, WSJ, "Facing Threats at Home and Abroad, Iran’s President Takes a Harder Line," 11 July 2018
The early years of the 20th century saw the concept of seaborne aeronautics evolve quickly.

— matthew moss, Popular Mechanics, "How the American Aircraft Carrier Became King of the Seas," 22 May 2018
The Greater Port of Houston, a network of nearly 200 terminals lining 25 miles of channel, is one of the busiest seaborne cargo hubs on the planet.

— New York Times, "Just the Fear of a Trade War Is Straining the Global Economy," 16 June 2018
D-Day is considered the largest seaborne invasion in history, when Allied forces invaded Normandy to begin the liberation of Europe under Nazi control.

— kevin kelleher, Fortune, "Trump Slammed Canada for Burning Down the White House. It Didn't, Really," 6 June 2018
This was an important factor in the rapid advance and the joining up of airborne and seaborne infantry to consolidate positions along 60 miles of coast.

— Popular Mechanics, "How the D-Day Invasion Was Planned," 6 June 2017
BMO Capital Markets says the 1 billion-metric-ton seaborne market will have a small deficit by 2021 and expand to 15 million tons in 2022.

— Bloomberg.com, "The War on Coal Is Making the World’s Top Mine Owners a Lot Richer," 1 May 2018
The disruption even has spread to railroads, especially in drayage, the service of hauling seaborne shipping containers from ports to rail yards.

— Fortune, "A Trucker Shortage Is Already Making Stuff More Expensive. A New Rule Is About to Make It Worse," 2 Apr. 2018
In any future amphibious operation, Ospreys will carry up to 24 combat-ready Marines deep inland to secure vital objectives, complementing a seaborne invasion and presenting the enemy with a three dimensional threat to defend against.

— kyle mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "The Marines Want The Swiss Army Knife of Drones," 19 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'seaborne.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.