Meanings
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA small, powerful boat used to push or pull barges or to help maneuver larger vessels.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From tug + boat. Sense 2 from monthly tugboat, a reference to the saying "our ship has come in," here referring to a small, "reliable" "tugboat" instead of a large windfall.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans sleepboot
- sleepbootsmall, powerful boat
Arabic زَوْرَق اَلْقَطْر
- زَوْرَق اَلْقَطْر (zawraq al-qaṭr)small, powerful boat
Basque atoiontzi
- atoiontzismall, powerful boat
Bulgarian влекач
- влекач (vlekač)small, powerful boat
Catalan remolcador
- remolcadorsmall, powerful boat
Chinese Mandarin 拖船
- 拖船 (tuōchuán)small, powerful boat
Czech remorkér
- remorkérsmall, powerful boat
Danish slæbebåd
- slæbebådsmall, powerful boat
Dutch sleepboot, sleper
- sleepbootsmall, powerful boat
- slepersmall, powerful boat
Esperanto trenšipo
- trenšiposmall, powerful boat
Estonian puksiir
- puksiirsmall, powerful boat
Finnish hinaaja
- hinaajasmall, powerful boat
French remorqueur
- remorqueursmall, powerful boat
German Schlepper, Schleppschiff
- Schleppersmall, powerful boat
- Schleppschiffsmall, powerful boat
- Schleppbootsmall, powerful boat
- Schleppdampfersmall, powerful boat
Greek ρυμουλκό πλοίο
- ρυμουλκό πλοίο (rymoulkó ploío)small, powerful boat
Hebrew גּוֹרֶרֶת
- גּוֹרֶרֶת (goréret)small, powerful boat
Hungarian vontatóhajó
- vontatóhajósmall, powerful boat
Icelandic dráttarbátur
- dráttarbátursmall, powerful boat
Indonesian kapal tunda
- kapal tundasmall, powerful boat
Italian rimorchiatore
- rimorchiatoresmall, powerful boat
Japanese タグボート, 曳船
- タグボート (tagubōto)small, powerful boat
- 曳船 (eisen)small, powerful boat
Korean 예인선
- 예인선 (yeinseon)small, powerful boat
Latvian velkonis, tālbraucējs
- velkonissmall, powerful boat
- tālbraucējssmall, powerful boat
Māori poti pārete, tima pārete
- poti pāretesmall, powerful boat
- tima pāretesmall, powerful boat
Norwegian Bokmål bukserbåt, slepebåt
- bukserbåtsmall, powerful boat
- slepebåtsmall, powerful boat
- taubåtsmall, powerful boat
Polish holownik
- holowniksmall, powerful boat
Portuguese rebocador
- rebocadorsmall, powerful boat
Romanian remocher
- remochersmall, powerful boat
Russian букси́р, букси́рное су́дно
- букси́р (buksír)small, powerful boat
- букси́рное су́дно (buksírnoje súdno)small, powerful boat
Scottish Gaelic bàta slaodaidh
- bàta slaodaidhsmall, powerful boat
Slovak remokér
- remokérsmall, powerful boat
Spanish remolcador
- remolcadorsmall, powerful boat
Swahili tishari
- tisharismall, powerful boat
Swedish bogserbåt
- bogserbåtsmall, powerful boat
Thai เรือโยง
- เรือโยง (reua yohng)small, powerful boat
Turkish römorkör
- römorkörsmall, powerful boat
Ukrainian букси́р
- букси́р (buksýr)small, powerful boat
Welsh tynfad
- tynfadsmall, powerful boat
Yiddish בוקסיר
- בוקסיר (buksir)small, powerful boat
Cite this entry
APA
tugboat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tugboat
MLA
“tugboat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tugboat. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tugboat,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tugboat.
Source: tugboat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.