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harbor

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A sheltered expanse of water, adjacent to land, in which ships may anchor or dock.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

hahrber

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈhɑɹbɚ

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. countablenautical

    A sheltered expanse of water, adjacent to land, in which ships may anchor or dock, especially for loading and unloading.

  2. countable

    Any place of shelter.

verb

  1. Secretly shelter (as of fugitives or criminals)

  2. intransitive

    To take refuge or shelter in a protected expanse of water.

  3. transitive

    To hold or persistently entertain in one's thoughts or mind.

  4. transitive

    To drive (a hunted stag) to covert.

  5. transitive

    To provide a harbor or safe place for.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A sheltered expanse of water, adjacent to land, in which ships may anchor or dock, especially for loading and unloading.

Used this way, harbor 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.

Nearby words

  • hold , a specialist term, precise but narrower

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use harbor

  • “She is harboring a grudge against him.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Sheltered / take

bar harbor

House

york harbor

Other combinations

pearl harborsafe harborinner harborsag harborspring harborcold harbor

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • harbor patrolnounCompound term

    Patrol of officers who police a harbor area.

  • harbor porpoisenounCompound term

    The common porpoise of the northern Atlantic and Pacific.

  • harbor sealnounCompound term

    Small spotted seal of coastal waters of the northern hemisphere.

  • pearl harbornounCompound term

    A harbor on Oahu to the west of Honolulu.

  • safe harbornounCompound term

    The target company defends itself by acquiring a company so onerously regulated that it makes the target less attractive.

  • boston harbornounCompound term

    The seaport at Boston.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: sheltered expanse of water or adjacent to land

seaport

verb

Sense: secretly shelter (as of fugitives or criminals)

harbourhaven

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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.