tonnage

noun

ton·​nage ˈtə-nij 

1

a

: the cubical content of a merchant ship in units of 100 cubic feet

b

: the displacement of a warship

2

a

: total weight in tons shipped, carried, or produced

b

: impressively large amount or weight

3

: a duty formerly levied on every tun of wine imported into England

4

a

: a duty or impost on vessels based on cargo capacity

b

: a duty on goods per ton transported

5

: ships in terms of the total number of tons registered or carried or of their carrying capacity

Examples of tonnage in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By 2021, that tonnage had skyrocketed to 231,072 — a 47% jump. —Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 22 Sep. 2024

Anyway, the post spawned an impressive tonnage of media coverage. —Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 12 Sep. 2024

Zoom in: Philly's regional port is the 19th busiest in the U.S. in terms of total tonnage and 55th globally for container port performance. —Emily Peck, Axios, 14 Aug. 2024

Vessel deployments have also been shuffled and reorganized on trade lanes around the globe to free up more tonnage for the Cape of Good Hope route, with Maersk saying that the industry has lost up to 20 percent of capacity due to the lengthier Asia-to-Europe voyage. —Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 22 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

in sense 3, from Middle English, from Anglo-French, from tonne tun; in other senses, from ton entry 1 — more at tunnel

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Kids Definition

tonnage

noun

ton·​nage ˈtən-ij 

1

: a tax on ships based on tons carried

2

: ships in terms of the total number of tons that are or can be carried

3

: total weight in tons shipped, carried, or mined