vessels
noun · verb
Form of vessel , plural of vessel.
Simple meaning
A craft for transportation on or in water, air.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vehsuhlzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈvɛsəlz
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
plural of vessel
A craft for transportation on or in water, air, or space.
plural of vessel
Any craft designed for transportation on or in water, such as a ship, boat, or submarine.
plural of vessel
A container of liquid or other substance, such as a glass, goblet, cup, bottle, bowl, or pitcher.
verb
third-person singular of vessel
To put into a vessel.
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, vessels 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.
Share your sentence
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “vessels” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
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.