sailed

verb

past tense of sail
1
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in flowed
to move or proceed smoothly and readily sailed through the latest assignment

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 The ship is regularly sailed and rowed, and on select outings visitors can even take an oar themselves—making Tønsberg one of the few places where World Cup fans can find out just how much harder the real thing is than the stadium version. — Bailey Berg, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026 On this day in 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 July 2026 Of his 63 punts, 26 landed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line and 22 sailed at least 50 yards. — Scott Dochterman, New York Times, 26 July 2026 Built in 1998 using traditional methods, Glad av Gillberga has sailed the North Sea, the Baltic, and even crossed the Atlantic. — Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 24 July 2026 Using only the ancient navigational methods of wayfinding, such as observing the stars and measuring wind patterns, the Hokulea sailed over 3,000 miles on its maiden voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti in 1976. — Kathleen Wong, USA Today, 22 July 2026 Sears had allowed only a single and faced the minimum 13 batters when Michael Harris II tied the game with a home run that sailed just beyond the tall wall in right field with one out in the fifth. — Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 July 2026 Over the last two seasons of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the titular demigod (Walker Scobell) has faced off against a minotaur, sailed to the sea of monsters, been chased by Cerberus, and even magically transformed into a guinea pig. — Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 21 July 2026 That game between Italy and Brazil went scoreless for 120 minutes, before Roberto Baggio sailed a ball over the crossbar in the penalty shootout. — Filip Bondy, New York Daily News, 19 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sailed
  1. ferried
  2. flowed
  3. hovered
  4. cruised
  5. drifted
  6. floated
  7. boated
  8. glided
Verb
  • Jet skis ferried survivors back to shore while people on the beach provided first aid.
    — Aniruddha Ghosal, Los Angeles Times, 11 July 2026
  • Embracing a local landmark, the park course had a ramp styled after Sacramento’s Tower Bridge, the State Fair site’s iconic sky ride ferried guests and skateboarder Nyjah Huston of nearby Davis made a podium at age 31.
    — Sean Campbell, Sacbee.com, 9 July 2026
Definition of ferried
Verb
  • And the quadrangular system of roads — state, county and township — and all that flowed from them are a historic institutional achievement that drove broader economic and social development.
    — Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 26 July 2026
  • In all the time since, the water flowed through that line under the many incarnations of the Sunset Strip, feeding smaller pipes that quenched a growing metropolis that expanded from about 500,000 people to 4 million.
    — Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2026
Definition of flowed
Verb
  • His long-term future surely hovered as another complicating factor.
    — Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 22 July 2026
  • Somewhere in the heated mist hovered the howls of Albert Ayler and the clarion call of his brother Donald’s trumpet, followed by the Ornette Coleman Quartet, saluting him with joyous cacophony.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 21 July 2026
Definition of hovered
Verb
  • In gender, Columbus' men avenged an earlier season loss and cruised to an 11-6 win to sweep gender doubles.
    — Todd Boss, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026
  • Tarik Skubal pitched seven dominant innings, Spencer Torkelson homered twice and drove in four runs, and the Detroit Tigers cruised to a 7-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 19 July 2026
Definition of cruised
Verb
  • Sales taxes have drifted gradually higher over multiple decades, said Loughead of the Tax Foundation.
    — Daniel de Visé, USA Today, 30 July 2026
  • Defeated, the dementor drifted down the aisle and out of sight.
    — Emily Tarinelli, Los Angeles Times, 29 July 2026
Definition of drifted
Verb
  • However, Newcastle have been looking at alternatives, and Parma’s Zion Suzuki, the 23-year-old Japan international, has featured during internal discussions, while Brighton’s 25-year-old goalkeeper Carl Rushworth has also been floated.
    — Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 21 July 2026
  • The team floated the idea to Nestlé’s global KitKat brand group, then gave its agency partner, VML, 24 hours to return with a concept.
    — Sam Birchall, Fortune, 20 July 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
  • Jones, in the first major race of his political career, faces a staunch challenge in Thompson, who has held the seat for 30 years and glided into the general election with almost 41% of the vote.
    — Evelyn Ronan, Sacbee.com, 22 July 2026
  • Silent and purposeful, the pelicans cut through a raucous chaos of gulls at the end of the wharf and glided on into the marsh.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 July 2026
Definition of glided

Browse Nearby Words

sailboats
sailed
sailed into
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Cite this Entry

“Sailed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sailed. Accessed 1 Aug. 2026.

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