Seaway

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A lane or route at sea that is regularly used by ships; a sea lane or trade route.
  2. 2
    a lane at sea that is a regularly used route for vessels wordnet
  3. 3
    An inland waterway used by seagoing shipping.

    "The coracle […] was a very safe boat for a person of my height and weight, both buoyant and clever in a seaway; but she was the most cross-grained, lop-sided craft to manage."

  4. 4
    The headway of a vessel.

Synonyms

All synonyms
channelfairwayoceanwayroadsea laneship route

Example

More examples

"The Portuguese Vasco da Gama discovered the seaway that leads from Portugal, around the continent of Africa, to India."

Etymology

From Middle English seewey, from Old English sǣweġ (“a seaway, a path through the sea”), equivalent to sea + way. Compare Saterland Frisian Seegong (“seaway, swell”), German Seegang (“seaway, swell”).

Related phrases

sea lanetrade route

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