SAILED Synonyms: 71 Similar and Opposite Words

sailed

verb

past tense of sail

as in ferried

to travel on water in a vessel I can't sail when there's any breeze at all because I get seasick easily

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Relevance

as in flowed

to move or proceed smoothly and readily sailed through the latest assignment

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in hovered

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 sailed And a 26-year-old naturalist named Charles Darwin arrived aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Beagle, which had sailed from England nearly four years earlier on a mission to chart South America. — Michele Metych Britannica Editors Sep. 14, Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Sep. 2026 Tyler Shough’s two-point pass attempt sailed over Noah Fant, allowing Detroit to avoid the near-collapse with a 31-30 victory in overtime. — Doug Kezirian, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026 The country’s meteorological service issued a marine warning for strong winds and high seas on the day the ferry sailed. — ABC News, 13 Sep. 2026 The cases involved three travelers who sailed aboard Norwegian Prima, a 3,200-passenger vessel, in May and July 2026, the blog Cruise Fever reported. — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 10 Sep. 2026 Only a handful of families sailed onboard, with children under 10 numbering in the single digits. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Sep. 2026 With nine seconds to play, Underwood dropped back to pass, scrambled and heaved a last-ditch pass that sailed out of bounds. — Kyle Feldscher, CNN Money, 8 Sep. 2026 The aircraft carrier sailed a few hundred miles south of Bermuda for the launch. — Tariq Malik, Space.com, 6 Sep. 2026 And then Timmy and Oli sailed east across the Pacific to America, a three-month voyage. — George Boedecker Jr, Harpers Magazine, 1 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sailed

Verb

The Pilot once ferried maritime pilots to larger ships in Boston Harbor.

— ABC News, ABC News, 2 Sep. 2026
Madilynn Becker, Miss Kansas While Madilynn Becker has long since given up most of her rituals and superstitions, there was one that ferried her through her young pageant career.

— Tabitha Parent, PEOPLE, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of ferried

Verb

In the app, Microsoft’s AI assistant, called Copilot, hovered over the page.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
In July, some 300 drones rose beside the 101 freeway and hovered for 15 minutes, forming Angelyne’s face and a telephone number in the night sky.

— Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of hovered

Verb

On Sunday morning, great clouds covered the tops of the city’s tallest skyscrapers, but the weather cleared up while the mother and daughter cruised together as participants in Bike the Drive.

— Finnegan Belleau, Chicago Tribune, 6 Sep. 2026
The 36-year-old cruised through seven scoreless innings, scattering three hits and three walks while striking out seven batters.

— Jen McCaffrey, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026

Definition of cruised

Verb

Sometime after Lizzie and Emma’s estrangement, Nance and Lizzie also drifted apart, and, in 1916, Nance married fellow actor Alfred Hickman.

— Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026
The ones who hesitate, or answer in generalities about market opportunity, are usually the ones where the practice has drifted furthest from its original purpose.

— Peter Doyle, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of drifted

Verb

By Monday, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark floated mandatory kill switches for AI systems.

— Peter Hall, Scientific American, 15 Sep. 2026
One potential reason floated to Semafor by market participants is that compute futures could be manipulated to show a sharp drop in the cost of older chips, which might destabilize AI stocks and debt markets.

— Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of floated

Verb

Over two partial days and one full day of fishing – roughly 15 hours total – the three of us boated 53 catfish up to 25 pounds.

— Brad Dokken, Twin Cities, 29 Aug. 2025
Many of the 30,000 tourists last year who boated down the Paraguay River beside the Serra do Amolar, about 60 miles downriver from Porto Jofre, were guests on liveaboard fishing charters.

— Megan Spurrell, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Aug. 2025

Definition of boated

Verb

The pinkish squid glided two miles beneath the surface, its long, pale legs trailing from undulating fins, stunning scientists who know remarkably little about its diet, behavior or reproduction.

— Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2026
Merino glided away from challenges to keep Arsenal in control.

— Thom Harris, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of glided

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sailboats

sailed

sailed into

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Style

“Sailed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sailed. Accessed 20 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of sailed

verb

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