navigator
noun
Simple meaning
The member of an aircrew who is responsible for the aircraft's course.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
navuhgayterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnævəɡeɪtɚ
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
The ship's officer in charge of navigation
The member of an aircrew who is responsible for the aircraft's course
In earlier times, a person who explored by ship
A device that navigates an aircraft, automobile or missile.
computing
A user interface that allows navigating through a structure of any kind.
A sea explorer.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The ship's officer in charge of navigation
Used this way, navigator 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
- sailing master , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use navigator
- “The car's GPS navigator helped us find the best route home.”
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: ship's officer in charge of navigation
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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.