Pontoon

//pɒnˈtuːn// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A flat-bottomed boat or other floating structure used as a buoyant support for a temporary bridge, dock or landing stage.

    "Thanks to the previous experience of the chief performers, to careful preparation and rehearsal, and to perfect weather conditions, they watched in breath-bated silence the spectacle of the huge bulk moving without a hitch into position over the temporary pier caps on which it settled as water ballast was admitted to the pontoons."

  2. 2
    A card game in which the object is to obtain cards whose value adds up to, or nearly to, 21 but not exceed it. uncountable
  3. 3
    a float supporting a seaplane wordnet
  4. 4
    A bridge with floating supports. broadly
  5. 5
    (nautical) a floating structure (as a flat-bottomed boat) that serves as a dock or to support a bridge wordnet
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A box used to raise a sunken vessel.
  2. 7
    A float of a seaplane.
  3. 8
    A lighter or barge used for loading or unloading ships.

Synonyms

All synonyms
aeroplaneairplaneblackjackboatbobboom

Example

More examples

"The family used to go on pontoon rides down the creek every Fourth of July."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle French ponton, from Old French ponton, from Latin pontō, pontōnem (“ferryboat”), from pōns (“bridge”).

Etymology 2

Probably from vingt-un, an obsolete variant of vingt-et-un (“twenty-one”), from French.

Related phrases

pontoon partytwenty one

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.