NAVIGATOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does navigator mean? 

• NAVIGATOR (noun)
  The noun NAVIGATOR has 3 senses:

1. the ship's officer in charge of navigation

2. the member of an aircrew who is responsible for the aircraft's course

3. in earlier times, a person who explored by ship

  Familiarity information: NAVIGATOR used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NAVIGATOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The ship's officer in charge of navigation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

navigator; sailing master

Hypernyms ("navigator" is a kind of...):

officer; ship's officer (a person authorized to serve in a position of authority on a vessel)

Derivation:

navigate (act as the navigator in a car, plane, or vessel and plan, direct, plot the path and position of the conveyance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The member of an aircrew who is responsible for the aircraft's course

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("navigator" is a kind of...):

aircrewman (a member of an aircrew)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "navigator"):

astrogator (the navigator of a spacecraft)

Derivation:

navigate (act as the navigator in a car, plane, or vessel and plan, direct, plot the path and position of the conveyance)

Sense 3

Meaning:

In earlier times, a person who explored by ship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("navigator" is a kind of...):

adventurer; explorer (someone who travels into little known regions (especially for some scientific purpose))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "navigator"):

Juan Ponce de Leon; Ponce de Leon (Spanish explorer who accompanied Columbus on his second trip in 1493; in 1513 he discovered Florida while searching for the legendary Fountain of Youth (1460-1521))

Instance hyponyms:

Behring; Bering; Vitus Behring; Vitus Bering (Danish explorer who explored the northern Pacific Ocean for the Russians and discovered the Bering Strait (1681-1741))

Americus Vespucius; Amerigo Vespucci; Vespucci (Florentine navigator who explored the coast of South America; America was named in his honor (1454-1512))

Giovanni da Verrazano; Giovanni da Verrazzano; Verrazano; Verrazzano (Florentine navigator who explored the eastern coast of North America (circa 1485-1528))

George Vancouver; Vancouver (English navigator remembered for his exploration of the Pacific coast of North America (1757-1798))

Abel Janszoon Tasman; Abel Tasman; Tasman (Dutch navigator who was the first European to discover Tasmania and New Zealand (1603-1659))

Ferdinand Magellan; Fernao Magalhaes; Magellan (Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain; he commanded an expedition that was the first to circumnavigate the world (1480-1521))

Henry Hudson; Hudson (English navigator who discovered the Hudson River; in 1610 he attempted to winter in Hudson Bay but his crew mutinied and set him adrift to die (1565-1611))

Gray; Robert Gray (American navigator who twice circumnavigated the globe and who discovered the Columbia River (1755-1806))

Gilbert; Humphrey Gilbert; Sir Humphrey Gilbert (English navigator who in 1583 established in Newfoundland the first English colony in North America (1539-1583))

Frobisher; Sir Martin Frobisher (English explorer who led an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage to the orient; served under Drake and helped defeat the Spanish Armada (1535-1594))

Drake; Francis Drake; Sir Francis Drake (English explorer and admiral who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and who helped to defeat the Spanish Armada (1540-1596))

Bartholomeu Dias; Bartholomeu Diaz; Dias; Diaz (Portuguese explorer who in 1488 was the first European to get round the Cape of Good Hope (thus establishing a sea route from the Atlantic to Asia) (1450-1500))

Davis; Davys; John Davis; John Davys (English navigator who explored the Arctic while searching for the Northwest Passage (1550-1605))

da Gamma; Gamma; Vasco da Gamma (Portuguese navigator who led an expedition around the Cape of Good Hope in 1497; he sighted and named Natal on Christmas Day before crossing the Indian Ocean (1469-1524))

Captain Cook; Captain James Cook; Cook; James Cook (English navigator who claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain and discovered several Pacific islands (1728-1779))

Christopher Columbus; Columbus; Cristobal Colon; Cristoforo Colombo (Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506))

Cartier; Jacques Cartier (French explorer who explored the St. Lawrence river and laid claim to the region for France (1491-1557))

Cabot; Giovanni Cabato; John Cabot (Italian explorer who led the English expedition in 1497 that discovered the mainland of North America and explored the coast from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland (ca. 1450-1498))

Balboa; Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Spanish explorer who in 1513 crossed the Isthmus of Darien and became the first European to see the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean (1475-1519))

 Context examples 

He reminds me how often the same accidents have happened to other navigators who have attempted this sea, and in spite of myself, he fills me with cheerful auguries.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

NASA's Cassini spacecraft is on final approach to Saturn, following confirmation by mission navigators that it is on course to dive into the planet's atmosphere on Friday, Sept. 15.

(Cassini Spacecraft Makes Its Final Approach to Saturn, NASA)

While the proposed planet's existence may eventually be confirmed by other means, mission navigators have observed no unexplained deviations in the spacecraft's orbit since its arrival there in 2004.

(Saturn Spacecraft Not Affected by Hypothetical Planet 9, NASA)

As it was, he found Spencer's explanation of things convincing; and, as he phrased it to himself, to give up Spencer would be equivalent to a navigator throwing the compass and chronometer overboard.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She ascertained from me in a few words what it was all about, comforted Dora, and gradually convinced her that I was not a labourer—from my manner of stating the case I believe Dora concluded that I was a navigator, and went balancing myself up and down a plank all day with a wheelbarrow—and so brought us together in peace.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Knowing their own prowess, they never refused the chance of a wayside adventure, and it was seldom indeed that the bargee or the navigator had much to boast of after a young blood had taken off his coat to him.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I like books and poetry, and what time I've had I've read 'em, but I've never thought about 'em the way you have. That's why I can't talk about 'em. I'm like a navigator adrift on a strange sea without chart or compass.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

One or two stiff gales and the springing of a leak are accidents which experienced navigators scarcely remember to record, and I shall be well content if nothing worse happen to us during our voyage.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There—for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators—there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)