1
a
: a pit or enclosure for cockfights
b
: a place noted for especially bloody, violent, or long-continued conflict
2
obsolete
: the pit of a theater
3
: a compartment in a sailing warship used as quarters for junior officers and for treatment of the wounded in an engagement
4
: a space or compartment in a usually small vehicle (such as a boat, airplane, or automobile) from which it is steered, piloted, or driven see airplane illustration
Examples of cockpit in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Behind the upper cockpit appears to be a cargo bay, presumably for presents.
—
Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 25 Dec. 2025
Turkey's Transportation Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the cockpit voice and flight data recorders would be sent to a neutral third country for examination, in order to ensure impartial findings on the cause of the crash.
—Arkansas Online, 25 Dec. 2025
The double crew cabin, meanwhile, can be accessed directly from the cockpit for greater privacy.
—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 19 Dec. 2025
Their stunning performance had been overshadowed by two deaths on other boats, both caused by ‘crash gybes’, an accidental maneuver when the boom (the solid spar that spans the bottom edge of the sail) suddenly sweeps across the top of the cockpit at high speed.
—Andrew Rice, New York Times, 17 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cockpit
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.
Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 25 Dec. 2025
Turkey's Transportation Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the cockpit voice and flight data recorders would be sent to a neutral third country for examination, in order to ensure impartial findings on the cause of the crash.
—Arkansas Online, 25 Dec. 2025
The double crew cabin, meanwhile, can be accessed directly from the cockpit for greater privacy.
—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 19 Dec. 2025
Their stunning performance had been overshadowed by two deaths on other boats, both caused by ‘crash gybes’, an accidental maneuver when the boom (the solid spar that spans the bottom edge of the sail) suddenly sweeps across the top of the cockpit at high speed.
—Andrew Rice, New York Times, 17 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cockpit
Cite this Entry
“Cockpit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cockpit. Accessed 28 Dec. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cockpit
noun
cock·pit
ˈkäk-ˌpit 
: a space or compartment in a usually small vehicle (as a boat, airplane, or automobile) from which it is steered, piloted, or driven
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share