shipmate

noun

ship·​mate ˈship-ˌmāt How to pronounce shipmate (audio)
: a fellow sailor

Examples of shipmate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In the two decades since the attack, 10 more shipmates have also died. Carol Rosenberg, New York Times, 16 Aug. 2023 Her shipmates are co-narrators, with snippets of their interviews peppered throughout her prose. Amy Brady, Scientific American, 15 Aug. 2023 Even while the ceremony was going on, the state was moving ahead with plans for a new highway and bridge, ignoring protests from residents, including descendants of the shipmates, who didn’t want to see their ancestors’ homes demolished. Nick Tabor, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Feb. 2023 These were my thoughts after overhearing two of my shipmates discuss the smell of burning human flesh with bemused equanimity. Jackson Lears, Harper's Magazine, 9 June 2023 Black shipmates introduced him to the works of W.E.B. Du Bois and other African American authors and urged him to study Black history. Peter Keepnews, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Apr. 2023 Potts passed away this past Friday at his home in Provo, Utah, according to Randy Stratton, whose late father Donald Stratton was a shipmate of Potts and a close friend. Justin Klawans, The Week, 23 Apr. 2023 By war’s end, 52 of his shipmates had been killed, most of them by kamikaze pilots. John Wilkens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Apr. 2023 One shipmate later testified that the married Locke spent much of his time on board entertaining female passengers privately in his cabin. David Reamer | Alaska History, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Apr. 2023 See More

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

Word History

First Known Use

1748, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of shipmate was in 1748

Dictionary Entries Near shipmate

Cite this Entry

“Shipmate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shipmate. Accessed 30 Sep. 2023.

Kids Definition

shipmate

noun
ship·​mate -ˌmāt How to pronounce shipmate (audio)
: a fellow sailor

More from Merriam-Webster on shipmate

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