Meanings
alternative a rising tide floats all boats
- A truly good outcome benefits all.
Whereas in the 1960s, incomes rose as the economy grew—to use President Kennedy's phrase, “a rising tide lifts all the boats”—this no longer applied in the 1980s.
2000, David Reynolds, chapter 17, in One World Divisible, W. W. Norton, →ISBN, page 6531 more example
Hay and other early gay rights activists were influenced by the Black civil rights movement in a broader sense, too. The rising tide of African American organizing raised all boats, and the hopes of all whose dreams had been deferred.
2005 June 21, Leslie Feinberg, “Pre-Stonewall gay organizing”, in Workers World
Translations
Finnish nousuvesi nostaa kaikki veneet
- nousuvesi nostaa kaikki veneetA truly good outcome benefits all
Polish przypływ podnosi wszystkie łodzie
- przypływ podnosi wszystkie łodzieA truly good outcome benefits all
Cite this entry
a rising tide lifts all boats. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/a%20rising%20tide%20lifts%20all%20boats
“a rising tide lifts all boats.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/a%20rising%20tide%20lifts%20all%20boats. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “a rising tide lifts all boats,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/a%20rising%20tide%20lifts%20all%20boats.
Source: a rising tide lifts all boats on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.