anchorage
noun
Simple meaning
A harbor, river, or offshore area that can accommodate a ship at anchor, either for quarantine, queuing.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
angkeruhjSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈæŋkɚədʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
nautical
A harbor, river, or offshore area that can accommodate a ship at anchor, either for quarantine, queuing, or discharge.
The act of anchoring, or the condition of lying at anchor.
nautical
A fee charged for anchoring.
The set of anchors belonging to a ship.
That into which something is anchored or fastened.
figurative
Something on which one may depend for security; ground of trust.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- General and technical use
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A harbor, river, or offshore area that can accommodate a ship at anchor, either for quarantine, queuing, or discharge.
Used this way, anchorage is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a nautical use: it is standard at sea and largely unfamiliar ashore.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Sailing/maritime
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use anchorage
- “Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska.”noun
- “The plant needs a firm anchorage.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Place for vessels to anchor.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.