1
a
: a flat structure (as of wood) for support or transportation on water
"How shall we cross the river?" asked Dorothy. "That is easily done," replied the Scarecrow. "The Tin Woodman must build us a raft, so we can float to the other side." So the Woodman took his axe and began to chop down small trees to make a raft …—
L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum… has made a living poling a raft on the Suchiate for two decades …—María Verza and Sonia Pérez
María Verza and Sonia PérezIn addition to a gorgeous 400' long sandy beach with a swim raft, there are 44 boat docks which are licensed to individual … homeowners.—Frank Roche
Frank Roche
also
: an inflatable flat-bottomed watercraft
Finally, the three astronauts, wearing their isolation garments, clambered out of the spacecraft into a rubber raft. —Brian Duff
Brian Duff All my fishing gear, which sometimes included an inflatable raft, went into a backpack so that my hands would be free to carry my shotgun. —Nelson Bryant
Nelson Bryant
b
: a collection of logs or timber fastened together in order to be floated downstream (as to a sawmill)
Soviet loggers commonly float individual logs down rivers to sawmills, rather than lashing them together in rafts.—A. Kent MacDougall
A. Kent MacDougall2
: a floating naturally cohesive mass
rafts of kelp
Home sites and hunting vantage points would have been undercut by the waves, salt meadows would have become angry shallow seas, and bitter salt and rafts of sea ice would have killed the willow brush and rich sedge meadows of the river deltas.—William W. Fitzburg and Aron Crowell
William W. Fitzburg and Aron Crowell3
: an aggregation of animals (such as waterfowl) resting on the water
a raft of ducks
rafted; rafting; rafts
1
a
: to transport by means of a raft (see raft entry 1 sense 1a)
Lewis was rafting supplies cross river … when he dumped his raft, soaking his chronometer.—Fred Haefele
Fred Haefele
b
: to transport in the form of a raft (see raft entry 1 sense 1b)
… the logs which had been floating in them were swept down the river to the sea before being rafted away to the sawmills.—D. A. Bathgate
D. A. Bathgate
c
: to convey (something, such as pebbles) in floating ice or masses of organic material
… sediment deposits are dominated by rock fragments released by melting ice. Even large rocks are rafted out and then released as the ice melts.—M. Grant Gross
M. Grant Gross2
: to travel along or across (a river or other body of water) on a raft
Although the writing is somewhat pedestrian, river rats will enjoy the 27 accounts … of rafting rivers in 11 Western states.—Tom Miller
Tom Miller3
: to make into a raft
rafted the logs
: to travel by raft
rafted across moderate rapids
: a large collection or number
Synonyms
Noun (2)
- 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
- reams
- scads
- sheaf
- shipload
- sight
- slew
- spate
- stack
- store
- ton
- truckload
- volume
- wad
- wealth
- yard
Examples of raft in a Sentence
Noun (2)
the babysitter had to listen to a whole raft of rules before she was allowed to even pick up the baby
Recent Examples on the Web
Emily Pennington, Outside Online, 18 Sep. 2024
Cutler eventually denied the claim, and it was later rumored that the pioneering river runner Georgie Clark, the first woman to own a commercial rafting business in the Grand Canyon, was actually Bessie Hyde.
—Graham Averill, Outside Online, 18 Oct. 2024
Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2024
Google’s big push comes by way of Android 15 with a raft of new updates, while Samsung is arguably doing more, clamping down on sideloading, defaulting to maximum restrictions and pushing its Knox ecosystem as an alternative to Apple’s equivalent.
—Zak Doffman, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for raft 
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Verb
Designed to resist abrasion caused by waders, shed water and insulate all day long, these trousers are ready for autumn water adventures, from Gauley River rafting to fishing for striped bass.
—Emily Pennington, Outside Online, 18 Sep. 2024
Cutler eventually denied the claim, and it was later rumored that the pioneering river runner Georgie Clark, the first woman to own a commercial rafting business in the Grand Canyon, was actually Bessie Hyde.
—Graham Averill, Outside Online, 18 Oct. 2024
Noun
In 1952, San Francisco and Antioch became the first communities in California to supplement naturally occurring levels of fluoride in their drinking water, after a raft of studies showing that the mineral made teeth enamel stronger and more resistant to acid.
—Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2024
Google’s big push comes by way of Android 15 with a raft of new updates, while Samsung is arguably doing more, clamping down on sideloading, defaulting to maximum restrictions and pushing its Knox ecosystem as an alternative to Apple’s equivalent.
—Zak Doffman, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for raft
Articles Related to raft
Dictionary Entries Near raft
Cite this Entry
“Raft.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raft. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
raft
1 of 3 noun
: a flat structure (as a group of logs fastened together) for support or transportation on water
raft
2 of 3 verb
: to transport or move on or by means of a raft
raft
3 of 3 noun
: a large amount or number
Etymology
Noun
Middle English rafte "rafter, raft"; of Norse origin
Noun
probably an altered form of earlier raff "jumble"
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