charter 1 of 2

Definition of charternext

charter

2 of 2

verb

Synonym Chooser

How is the word charter different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of charter are hire, lease, let, and rent. While all these words mean "to engage or grant for use at a price," charter applies to the hiring or letting of a vehicle usually for exclusive use.

charter a bus to go to the game

How do hire and let relate to one another, in the sense of charter?

Both hire and let, strictly speaking, are complementary terms, hire implying the act of engaging or taking for use and let the granting of use.

we hired a car for the summer
decided to let the cottage to a young couple

In what contexts can lease take the place of charter?

While in some cases nearly identical to charter, lease strictly implies a letting under the terms of a contract but is often applied to hiring on a lease.

the diplomat leased an apartment for a year

When would rent be a good substitute for charter?

The words rent and charter are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, rent stresses the payment of money for the full use of property and may imply either hiring or letting.

instead of buying a house, they decided to rent
will not rent to families with children

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 charter
Noun
The team flies charter to about half its road trips. Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Jan. 2026 Some areas and parking lots are reserved for specific pass types, including event staff, vendors, volunteers, media, charter buses and internal operations. Ed Masley, AZCentral.com, 29 Jan. 2026
Verb
The short four-hour flight from JFK (chartered by Viking for the expedition) felt like a breeze compared to the multi-day journey down to Antarctica’s embarkation port at Ushuaia, the southernmost end of the world. Jillian Dara, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Jan. 2026 Even the setting, a snowy January evening in the city in which the NHL itself was originally chartered over 100 years ago, adds to that seductive sense that an NHL game in this city just matters more. Thomas Drance, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for charter
Recent Examples of Synonyms for charter
Noun
  • Opponents worry about breaking existing environmental protections for the region, and endangering the treaty altogether.
    Christian Elliott, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2026
  • The safety briefings are required by the International Maritime Organization’s International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea Convention—a treaty first adopted in 1912 after the Titanic sank.
    Erica Silverstein, Travel + Leisure, 31 Jan. 2026
Noun
  • The funding is part of the fair’s community giving program and provided through community grants and sponsorships.
    Aria Jones, Dallas Morning News, 4 Feb. 2026
  • One of the science community’s biggest concerns has been disruptions in the flow of grant funding to universities and institutes from the NIH, the agency responsible for funneling federal dollars into biomedical and life sciences research.
    Evan Bush, NBC news, 4 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • Some cities have small differences in monthly cost between renting and owning (like Phoenix, Arizona or Orlando, Florida), but others have major financial gaps (like San Francisco, California or Bridgeport, Connecticut).
    Irene Wright, USA Today, 3 Feb. 2026
  • Others require that the owner live in the main property or that the dwelling units can only be rented to a blood relative of the property owner.
    Ginny Monk, Hartford Courant, 3 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • On Friday, Anthropic announced new legal, finance and product marketing capabilities for its Claude Cowork productivity tool, and released the plugins under an open-source license, enabling customization.
    Jordan Novet, CNBC, 5 Feb. 2026
  • These devices also have the potential to enable portable power generation, for example, to run small sensors in remote locations, according to a press release.
    Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 5 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • The court found the contracts were unconstitutional.
    Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 31 Jan. 2026
  • The Kansas City Royals came to a contract agreement with first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino on Friday night.
    Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 31 Jan. 2026
Noun
  • Conceived during the final years of the Second World War and known today primarily from a French patent (FR907544), the Train d’Assaut imagined an articulated, multi‑section armored vehicle that moved less like a conventional tank and more like a mechanical centipede.
    Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 26 Jan. 2026
  • Anshel Sag Xreal filed a patent infringement lawsuit against rival AR glasses maker Viture, extending an earlier legal clash that began in Germany.
    Charlie Fink, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • David Plotz, the CEO of City Cast, told Semafor in a phone call that the local podcast network was expanding its coverage of Washington as a direct result of the Post’s pullback, and would be immediately hiring four multi-platform journalists.
    Max Tani, semafor.com, 5 Feb. 2026
  • One Florida resident reportedly hired a local mover without bothering to determine if the company was licensed, only to run into a boatload of trouble.
    Lew Sichelman, Miami Herald, 5 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • Defendant Metcalf provided false information to Defendant Johnson about what Plaintiff Kennedy allegedly said, thereby instigating and authorizing the publication of the defamatory and reckless statements, which were intended to harm Plaintiff Kennedy.
    Chantz Martin, FOXNews.com, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Adam Duckworth, president and founder of Travelmation, a travel agency and authorized Disney vacation planner, says the company has been seeing an increase in multi-generation cruise travel.
    Stacey Lastoe, Southern Living, 3 Feb. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Charter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/charter. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.

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