vessel

UK/ˈvɛsəl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈvesəl/

vessel noun: any craft designed for transportation on or in water, such as a ship, boat, or submarine.

Noun

vessel (plural vessels)

Any craft designed for transportation on or in water, such as a ship, boat, or submarine.
- But my hope was, that if I stood along this coast till I came to that part where the English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual design of trade, that would relieve and take us in.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC
- Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, […] naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 3
Synonyms:

watercraft
A craft designed for transportation through air or space.
- Driven from their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most quarians now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a flotilla of fifty thousand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to mobile space stations.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Quarians Codex entry
(dialectal, obsolete, uncountable) Dishes and cutlery collectively, especially if made of precious metals.
- All his Vessell was of golde and siluer, pottis, basons, ewers, dysshes, flagons, barels, cuppes, and all other thyngis.1523, John Bourchier, translated by Jean Froissart, Here begynneth the first volum of sir Iohan Froyssart : of the cronycles of Englande, Fraunce, Spayne, Portyngale, Scotlande, Bretayne, Flauders...
A container of liquid or other substance, such as a glass, goblet, cup, bottle, bowl, or pitcher.
(figuratively) A person as a container of qualities or feelings.
- A teacher should be a vessel of knowledge.
- But the Lord said vnto him, Goe thy way: for hee is a chosen vessell vnto me, to beare my Name before the Gentiles, and Kings, and the children of Israel.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 9:15
A tube or canal that carries fluid in an animal or plant.
- Blood and lymph vessels are found in humans; xylem and phloem vessels are found in plants.

Verb

vessel (third-person singular simple present vessels, present participle (US) vesseling or (UK) vesselling, simple past and past participle (US) vesseled or (UK) vesselled)

(transitive) To put into a vessel.
- Our hony alſo is taken and reputed to be the beſt bycauſe it is harder, better wrought & clenlyer veſſelled vp, thẽ that which cõmeth from beyond the ſea, where they ſtampe and ſtraine their combes, Bées, & young Blow|inges altogither into the ſtuffe, as I haue béene informed.1577, William Harrison, The Description of England in Holinshed’s Chronicles, Volume 1, Book 3, Chapter 12 “Of venemous beastes &c.,”
- The fourth Rule ſhall be, to marke what Herbs, ſome Earths doe put fourth of themſelves; And to take that Earth, and to Pot it, or to Veſſell it; And in that to ſet the Seed you would change […]1627, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or, A Naturall Historie, London: W. Lee, Cent. VI, section 529, p. 137

vessel meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

vessel in Hindi

craft: पोत pot
container: पात्र pātra, बर्तन bartan
tube or canal that carries fluid in an animal or plant: नस nas

vessel in Tamil

vessel, hollow utensil, as a cup, plate; earthenware: கலம் kalam
vessel, pot, cup: கலசம் kalacam
vessel, pot, cup, goblet: கிண்ணம் kiṇṇam
vessel, utensil: கலன் kalaṉ

vessel in Marathi

container: भांडे bhāṇḍe
tube or canal that carries fluid in an animal or plant: रक्तवाहिनी raktavāhinī

vessel in Urdu

craft: جَہاز jahāz
container: ظَرْف zarf, باسَن bāsan, بَرْتَن bartan

More languagesFewer languages

vessel in Bengali: ভাজন bhajon
vessel in Telugu: ఓడ ōḍa, పాత్ర pātra
vessel in Malayalam: കലം kalaṁ
vessel in Kannada: ಕಲ, ಹರವಿ, ಮಿಳ್ಳಿ, ಚಂಬು
vessel in Gujarati: વહાણ vahāṇ, જહાજ jahāj, વાસણ vāsaṇ, નસ nas
vessel in Odia: ତୀର୍ଥ tirtha
vessel in Sanskrit: चमू camū́, मल्ल malla, भाजन bhā́jana
vessel in Assamese: সাজ xaz
vessel in Arabic: فُلْك fulk, وِعَاء wiʕāʔ
vessel in Malay: kapal, bot
vessel in Indonesian: kapal, perahu
vessel in Thai: เรือ rʉʉa, ภาชนะ paa-chá-ná, เส้นเลือด sên-lʉ̂ʉat
vessel in Vietnamese: thuyền lớn, tàu thuỷ, tàu, vò
vessel in Myanmar: သင်္ဘော sangbhau:

Examples of vessel in a sentence

Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time.2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2...
[The serpent] fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom to enter.1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by...
I am a vessel that’s empty and useless / I am a bad seed that fell by the way1975, Dolly Parton, “The Seeker”:
But they [Christian nationalists] excuse all that by saying God works in mysterious ways, and that he sent us this flawed vessel by which we can achieve the goals that we want to achieve.2024 February 29, Tim Jonze, quoting Rob Reiner, “‘We need to reach as many people as we can’: Rob Reiner on Trump, family – and his...

All 40 example sentences with vessel

Synonyms of vessel

watercraft

Forms of vessel

Noun
plural	vessels
alternative form (obsolete)	vessell
Verb
third-person singular present	vessels
present participle US	vesseling
present participle UK	vesselling
past participle US	vesseled
past US	vesseled
past participle UK	vesselled
past UK	vesselled

Plural of vessel: vessels

Origin of vessel

Inherited from Middle English vessel, vessell (“small container”); from Old French vaissel (compare modern French vaisseau and Catalan vaixell), from Late Latin vāscellum, diminutive of vāsculum, diminutive of vās (“vase, vessel”).

Words formed from vessel

Words that rhyme with vessel

Questions about vessel

What does vessel mean?: Vessel means any craft designed for transportation on or in water, such as a ship, boat, or submarine.
What is vessel in Hindi?: Vessel in Hindi is पोत (pot), पात्र (pātra), बर्तन (bartan). See Vessel meaning in Hindi.
How do you use vessel in a sentence?: Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time.
What part of speech is vessel?: Vessel can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce vessel?: Vessel is pronounced /ˈvɛsəl/ (UK).
What is the plural of vessel?: The plural of vessel is vessels.

Words near vessel in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: vessel (page history and authors); கலசம் (Tamil) (page history and authors); ভাজন (Bengali) (page history and authors); vessel (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ତୀର୍ଥ (Odia) (page history and authors); चमू (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); সাজ (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-vessel.ogg.

Cite this entry: “vessel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vessel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.