vaporetto

noun va·po·ret·to \ ˌvä-pə-ˈre-(ˌ)tō \

Updated on: 25 Mar 2018

Definition of vaporetto

plural vaporetti play \ˌvä-pə-ˈre-tē\ also vaporettos

: a motorboat serving as a canal bus in Venice, Italy

Recent Examples of vaporetto from the Web

Both are easily reached by waterbus (vaporetto), and good for a stroll and a draught of fresh air, as much for their historic sites and shopping.

— patrick rogers, Town & Country, "Exploring Venice's Exclusive Private Islands," 12 Mar. 2018
Watch the gondolas and vaporetti glide by from a window table at the Mediterranean restaurant De Pisis; Settimo Cielo serves breakfast along with its lagoon vistas.

— Condé Nast Traveler, "BAUERs Palazzo," 20 Oct. 2017
The fair centers on the Giardini, a few vaporetto stops from San Marco, and the Arsenale, a massive former shipworks.

— jane wooldridge, miamiherald, "There’s still time to catch ‘the world’s fair of art,’ but you have to get to Venice by Nov. 27.," 21 Oct. 2017
Watch the gondolas and vaporetti glide by from a window table at the Mediterranean restaurant De Pisis

— Condé Nast Traveler, "BAUERs Palazzo," 20 Oct. 2017
Skip the expensive gondola and take a cheap vaporetto.

— mehera bonner, Marie Claire, "Weekend Trip Guide: Where to Stay, Eat, and Drink in Venice," 21 July 2017
From the Scuola, take the vaporetto to the Dorsoduro district and tour the church of San Sebastiano.

— mary carole mccauley, baltimoresun.com, "On a trip to Venice, art is inescapable," 8 June 2017
Morning commuters are boarding a crosstown vaporetto.

— joshua rothman, The New Yorker, "Kim Stanley Robinson’s Latest Novel Imagines Life in an Underwater New York," 27 Apr. 2017
Several tourists boarding the vaporetto bump their suitcases into her and almost knock her into the murky water.

— chris morris, Orange County Register, "Finding the Venetians," 3 Mar. 2017

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

Origin and Etymology of vaporetto

borrowed from Italian, diminutive of vapore "steamboat," short for battello a vapore, borrowed from French bateau à vapeur "steamboat"

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First Known Use: 1926

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