vessel
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A craft for transportation on or in water, air.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vehsuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈvɛsəl
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
A craft for transportation on or in water, air, or space.
nautical
Any craft designed for transportation on or in water, such as a ship, boat, or submarine.
A container of liquid or other substance, such as a glass, goblet, cup, bottle, bowl, or pitcher.
figurative
A person as a container of qualities or feelings.
verb
transitive
To put into a vessel.
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 craft for transportation on or in water, air, or space.
Used this way, vessel is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- watercraft , 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 vessel
- “The old fishing vessel sailed out into the rough sea each morning.”
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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.
A vessel in which blood circulates.
Any of the minute blood vessels connecting arterioles with venules.
A ship designed to carry cargo.
A cargo ship designed to hold containerized cargoes.
A vessel intended for drinking.
A vessel for fishing.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.