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shipload
noun
ship·load
ˈship-ˈlōd
-ˌlōd
1
: as much or as many as will fill or load a ship
2
: an indefinitely large amount or number
Synonyms
- abundance
- barrel
- basketful
- boatload
- bucket
- bunch
- bundle
- bushel
- carload
- chunk
- deal
- dozen
- fistful
- gobs
- good deal
- heap
- hundred
- lashings [chiefly British]
- lashins
- loads
- lot
- mass
- mess
- mountain
- much
- multiplicity
- myriad
- oodles
- pack
- passel
- peck
- pile
- plateful
- plenitude
- plentitude
- plenty
- pot
- potful
- profusion
- quantity
- raft
- reams
- scads
- sheaf
- sight
- slew
- spate
- stack
- store
- ton
- truckload
- volume
- wad
- wealth
- yard
Examples of shipload in a Sentence
Shiploads of settlers came to the New World.
it must have taken a shipload of money to build that mansion
Recent Examples on the Web
The story goes that a German submarine sank a vessel carrying an uninsured shipload of his goods, putting an end to that trading venture.
—Clara Hernanz Lizarraga, Fortune Europe, 25 Apr. 2024
Charles Edward Trevelyan, a top treasury official, curtailed the government’s subsidized food distribution program, even at one point rejecting a shipload of corn.
—Richard Grant, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Sep. 2023
Advertisement Jump to 2019, when a shipload of archaeologists, ice experts, engineers and masters of several other disciplines set out to find the Endurance.
—Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2023
The intimidating sight of a shipload of pirates bearing down on a smaller, outnumbered crew must have been terrifying.
—National Geographic, 2 July 2020
What's certain is that the chairman, then 49, escaped in one of the last lifeboats, leaving behind a shipload of passengers, his butler, his secretary and his reputation.
—People Staff, PEOPLE.com, 15 Apr. 2022
The choice of October 9 as the official holiday had nothing to with the son of Erik the Red himself and everything to do with October 9 being the date when the first shipload of Norwegian immigrants arrived in the United States in 1825.
—Arthur Herman, National Review, 9 Oct. 2021
Today’s holiday gifts — from princess palaces to water guns — entered the country by the shipload without the usual security checks from mid-March to September, including months that were inspectors’ busiest last year, USA TODAY found.
—Brett Murphy, USA TODAY, 22 Dec. 2020
The federal safety inspectors who protect kids from dangerous and deadly toys were not standing guard for nearly six months while this year’s holiday gifts entered the U.S. by the shipload.
—Brett Murphy, USA TODAY, 11 Dec. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shipload.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1639, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Dictionary Entries Near shipload
Cite this Entry
“Shipload.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shipload. Accessed 15 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
shipload
noun
ship·load
-ˈlōd
-ˌlōd
: as much or as many as a ship will hold
a shipload of corn
shiploads of immigrants
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