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

Relevance
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 Cleopatra and Julius Caesar sailed the river with a 400-ship flotilla. — Susan B. Barnes, Travel + Leisure, 29 Oct. 2026 Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn sailed to another strong lead with an Argentine tango inspired by Black Swan. — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Oct. 2026 Brady also took issue with a call against Detroit, suggesting Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes didn't deserve an unnecessary roughness flag for bumping running back MarShawn Lloyd after a pass sailed over Lloyd's head. — ABC News, 27 Oct. 2026 Built by master Konjo shipwrights in South Sulawesi using dense tropical teak and ironwood, Silolona and its sister phinisi schooner, Si Datu Bua, venture where few travelers have sailed before. — Luke Abrahams, Vogue, 27 Oct. 2026 Opinions about Sir Walter Raleigh, who sailed the seas in the 16th century, vary widely. — Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 27 Oct. 2026 The ball sailed out of bounds but still entertained the crowd. — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 27 Oct. 2026 Needing 11 yards on fourth down to continue their drive and cut into a 23-7 Packers lead, Prescott narrowly avoided a sack before lofting a pass that sailed out the back of the end zone, not close to any particular Cowboys receiver. — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2026 Yet Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare – senior Tory politician, former athlete, bestselling novelist and bon viveur – simply sailed on. — The Week Uk, TheWeek, 17 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sailed
  1. ferried
  2. flowed
  3. hovered
  4. cruised
  5. drifted
  6. floated
  7. boated
  8. glided
Verb
  • The first few days of Riyadh Season have gone ahead with little incident, even if participants were forced to divert to other cities or even neighboring Bahrain or Kuwait before being ferried back to the Saudi capital.
    — Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Treasury said Caspian had transported IRGC personnel and weapons to Syria and said Meraj had ferried illicit cargo, including weapons, to the Syrian government.
    — Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of ferried
Verb
  • The discovery of certain minerals, for example, can show that water flowed on Mars long ago, pointing to potentially habitable conditions.
    — Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 2 Nov. 2026
  • Historic amounts of money have flowed into this year's midterm elections.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 31 Oct. 2026
Definition of flowed
Verb
  • Every part of Central Florida saw a significant drenching beginning Sunday morning and continuing through Monday as a result of a stubborn low pressure disturbance that hovered over the state.
    — Martin E. Comas, The Orlando Sentinel, 2 Nov. 2026
  • Student growth in math and ELA at West Aurora — a measure of how much students have improved compared with their peers — generally hovered around average compared to the rest of the state, according to ISBE’s 2026 figures.
    — Molly Morrow, Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of hovered
Verb
  • In past reelections, Matsui has largely cruised to victories.
    — Mathew Miranda, Sacbee.com, 30 Oct. 2026
  • They will be joined by Bishop Moore and Horizon, teams that cruised to 3-0 region final victories on Wednesday night; along with Winter Park, which lost to Orangewood but stayed alive.
    — Buddy Collings, The Orlando Sentinel, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of cruised
Verb
  • But as the boat drifted nearby under a vast, cloudless sky, a pod of pink river dolphins broke the glassy, reflective surface just yards away, their rosy dorsal fins glistening in the late-afternoon sun.
    — Liam Hess, Vogue, 5 Nov. 2026
  • The big rig traveling in the far right northbound lane of the highway drifted, for unknown reasons, into the right shoulder and hit both vehicles.
    — Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of drifted
Verb
  • An entire home was lifted from its foundation and floated down the river before crashing into a pedestrian bridge.
    — Christopher Weber, Chicago Tribune, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Our analysis spotlighted how the worst is to come and floated that speculation internally has turned to the future of radio and podcast streamer BBC Sounds.
    — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 3 Nov. 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

Browse Nearby Words

sailboats
sailed
sailed into
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Sailed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sailed. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

The Words of the Week - Nov. 6

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All