as in longshoreman
one who loads and unloads ships at a port a trade embargo that was especially hard on the nation's dockhands

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dockhand Two of the eight tainted Tylenol bottles came from Jewel stores in the northwest suburbs, though neither had passed through the Melrose Park warehouse where Arnold had long worked for Jewel as a dockhand. Chicago Tribune, 29 Sep. 2022 Alhonna is the genesis of the crime drama, where screenwriter Bill Dubuque worked as a dockhand in his youth at the comfortable, somewhat dated, lake retreat. Mike and Wendy Pramik, cleveland, 7 July 2022 Just stepping onto the log from the dock, then maintaining balance as the log was pushed out into the water by dockhands with poles, looked like a challenge. David G. Molyneaux, miamiherald, 19 Aug. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dockhand
Noun
  • More than a decade before the Dali container ship toppled Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, a Seattle longshoreman named Roger Murray climbed aboard another vessel managed by the same Singaporean company.
    USA TODAY, USA TODAY, 25 Sep. 2024
  • Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, days after the strike deadline, appeared to side with longshoremen on the issue of automation last month.
    Taylor Giorno, The Hill, 8 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • Docks depended on a circulating pool of male maritime workers—crews of seamen and stokers who manned the tramp steamers, gangs of longshoremen, and stevedores who loaded and unloaded goods, as well as artisans and machinists who maintained and repaired the ships and trains.
    Michael Denning, Foreign Affairs, 21 Aug. 2015
  • America dodged a sledgehammer on Thursday night, when striking stevedores reached a tentative agreement to return to work.
    Dan Primack, Axios, 4 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • The 45,000 dockworkers’ ongoing threats to resume their strike over automation would shut down ports and could damage the economy as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
    Mead Gruver, The Denver Post, 7 Jan. 2025
  • While others defended Trump’s attempt to protect dockworkers from technological change.
    Max Zahn, ABC News, 13 Dec. 2024

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Cite this Entry

“Dockhand.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dockhand. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.

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