Meaning & use
debark
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Meanings
verbintransitiveformal
To leave a ship, aircraft or other vehicle after a journey and go onto land.
Grammar: No object, often followed by from: the passengers debarked from the ferry.
Patterns
- debark from something
- debark at somewhere
The soldiers debarked at dawn and formed ranks on the beach.
Passengers will debark from the rear door of the plane.
The ship docked, and the crew debarked first.
verbtransitivespecialist
To take the bark off a tree or log.
Grammar: Takes an object: debark the logs.
Patterns
- debark something
The mill debarks the logs before cutting them into planks.
Workers debarked the trunks with a rotating machine.
Word forms
| third person singular | debarks |
|---|---|
| past tense | debarked |
| past participle | debarked |
| -ing form | debarking |
Common combinations
- debark from
- The troops debarked from the transport ship.
- debark at dawn
- The expedition debarked at dawn.
- debark at the port
- The delegation debarked at the port of Lisbon.
- debark logs
- The factory debarks logs before processing them.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disembark
- Disembark is the more common word with the same meaning, and it is the standard choice in British English.
- get off
- Get off is the everyday phrase and works for buses and trains, while debark is formal and linked to ships, planes and military use.
- alight
- Alight is a formal word used mostly for stepping down from a bus, train or taxi.
- land
- Land focuses on arriving on shore or ground, but you can land without stepping out yourself, as a plane does.
Opposites
Word family
- embark verb
- to go onto a ship or aircraft, or to begin a project
- debarkation noun
- the act of leaving a ship or aircraft
- disembark verb
- to go ashore or get off a vehicle
- bark noun
- the tough outer covering of a tree
Commonly confused: debark or embark? debark or bark?
debark vs embark
Embark means to get on a ship or plane, so it is the opposite of debark.
debark vs bark
Bark can mean a dog's sound or the outer covering of a tree. Debark only relates to the tree sense in the meaning of removing it.
Practice
After a long voyage, the passengers were glad to ___ and set foot on dry land.
Choose one answer.
Debark means to get off a ship. Embark means the opposite, to get on, so it is the tempting wrong choice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “debark”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.