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cruiser

noun

Simple meaning

A passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are considered an essential part of the experience.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kroozer

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkɹuzɚ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. nautical

    A passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are considered an essential part of the experience.

  2. militarynautical

    A class of fast warships of medium tonnage, having a long cruising range but less armour and firepower than a battleship.

  3. One who attends cruises.

  4. entomology

    Any dragonfly of the family Macromiidae; a macromiid.

  5. colloquial

    One who cruises at bars and neighborhoods seeking sex.

  6. entomology

    Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Vindula.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A class of fast warships of medium tonnage, having a long cruising range but less armour and firepower than a battleship.

Used this way, cruiser is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.

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

  • Military
  • Historical writing
  • News/reporting
  • 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 cruiser

  • “The police cruiser drove slowly down the neighborhood street.”

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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.