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
  • The drop off in activity means fewer jobs for longshoremen and truckers, and down the line, higher prices for consumers, the representatives said.
    Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2025
  • Holt Logistics employs about 500 workers at the Port of Philadelphia, where longshoremen unpack and load products like fruit from around the world — produce destined for supermarkets across the U.S.
    Tom Hanson, CBS News, 9 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • His father was a stevedore and his mother an autodidact who aspired to something better than the prefab house where her family lived.
    Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
  • 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
Noun
  • The sluggish traffic at America’s largest gateways has dockworkers and truck drivers worried about their jobs, the reporter said.
    Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 8 May 2025
  • In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the river was a bustling hub of trade, crime and traffic, with sailors, merchants, shipwrights, dockworkers, ropemakers, lightermen, fishers and oyster wives rubbing shoulders on its banks.
    Sean Kingsley, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Dockhand.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dockhand. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.

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