What's the difference between sail and wail?

Sail


Definition:

  • (n.) An extent of canvas or other fabric by means of which the wind is made serviceable as a power for propelling vessels through the water.
  • (n.) Anything resembling a sail, or regarded as a sail.
  • (n.) A wing; a van.
  • (n.) The extended surface of the arm of a windmill.
  • (n.) A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft.
  • (n.) A passage by a sailing vessel; a journey or excursion upon the water.
  • (n.) To be impelled or driven forward by the action of wind upon sails, as a ship on water; to be impelled on a body of water by the action of steam or other power.
  • (n.) To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a water fowl.
  • (n.) To be conveyed in a vessel on water; to pass by water; as, they sailed from London to Canton.
  • (n.) To set sail; to begin a voyage.
  • (n.) To move smoothly through the air; to glide through the air without apparent exertion, as a bird.
  • (v. t.) To pass or move upon, as in a ship, by means of sails; hence, to move or journey upon (the water) by means of steam or other force.
  • (v. t.) To fly through; to glide or move smoothly through.
  • (v. t.) To direct or manage the motion of, as a vessel; as, to sail one's own ship.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) If we’re waiting around for the Democratic version to sail through here, or the Republican version to sail through here, all those victims who are waiting for us to do something will wait for days, months, years, forever and we won’t get anything done.” Senator Bill Nelson, whose home state of Florida is still reeling from the Orlando shooting, said he felt morally obligated to return to his constituents with results.
  • (2) Porec , a port in Istria, is a good place to learn to sail; try the marina (marina-porec@pu.tel.hr) or istra-yachting.com .
  • (3) The coke sailed up my nasal passage, leaving behind the delicious smell of a hot leather car seat on the way back from the beach.
  • (4) The passengers were then flown to an Australian icebreaker, the Aurora Australis, which had cracked through ice floes and was now sailing towards Australia's Casey research base.
  • (5) He set sail on his $15m yacht Sorcerer II on an unending voyage with the mission, along the way, "to put everything that Darwin missed into context" and map the whole world's genetic components.
  • (6) When I clambered onto the fishing boat after the last men left, it occurred to me that an armed smuggler might be hiding below deck, waiting to sail the boat back to Libya.
  • (7) Ships should be able to sail directly over the north pole by the middle of this century, considerably reducing the costs of trade between Europe and China but posing new economic, strategic and environmental challenges for governments, according to scientists.
  • (8) "In ocean races in sailing a handicap prize is awarded as well as a line honours prize to recognise sailing skill rather than simply the newest and most expensive boat," writes Benjamin Penny.
  • (9) For most people this ship has sailed and they want to move on.
  • (10) The new royal research ship will be sailing into the world’s iciest waters to address global challenges that affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people, including global warming, the melting of polar ice and rising sea levels,” he said.
  • (11) The 700-strong trade mission to Emperor Qianlong sailed in a man-of-war equipped with 66 guns, compromising diplomats, businessmen and soldiers, but it ended in an impasse with the emperor refusing to meet them, saying: "We the celestial empire have never valued ingenious articles, nor do we have the slightest need of your country's manufactures."
  • (12) Fabregas hammers it down the middle, the ball sailing slightly to the left before bulging the net.
  • (13) The SAILS offers a criterion-based means of quantifying patient functional status for both clinical and research applications.
  • (14) The broadcast featured panoramic shots of the hundreds of boats, tugs, cruisers and canoes sailing past the Houses of Parliament during the pageant staged as part of the national celebrations in June.
  • (15) "I don't know why," he says, but it's something that didn't even happen at his lowest ebb: amid the bleakness of the early 70s, he somehow kept sporadically producing incredible songs: Til I Die, This Whole World, Sail On Sailor… There's always touring, however.
  • (16) Back in Liverpool, however: "My great-grandfather on my mother's side was a qualified ship's captain, but was never allowed to sail out of Liverpool as such, because the crews would not take orders from a black captain.
  • (17) Ahmad boarded at roughly the same time, calling to tell his family he would be sailing for Italy that night.
  • (18) Tourists Guy and Jo from Margaret River, in Western Australia, were preparing to sail in the lagoon in a glass-bottom boat when a police officer stopped them.
  • (19) A similar surge was expected this “sailing season”, Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR, told Guardian Australia.
  • (20) Some of those operations may “sail close to the wind” in terms of breaking existing laws.

Wail


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To choose; to select.
  • (v. t.) To lament; to bewail; to grieve over; as, to wail one's death.
  • (v. i.) To express sorrow audibly; to make mournful outcry; to weep.
  • (n.) Loud weeping; violent lamentation; wailing.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) You couldn't get much more bohemian than the music playing in this room of tiny round tables, first French crooner Serge Gainsbourg and then cabaret freak Scott Walker wailing of their obelisk-size pain.
  • (2) Every now and then some rich Oga or Madam comes along in their bulletproof cars and wailing sirens, and distorts the delicate equilibrium of this body of traffic.
  • (3) In groups 1 and 2, clusters of cylindrical tubules, typical of the male gland, decreased in number and disappeared almost completely 2 wailed in these two groups throughout the remaining period of experiment.
  • (4) "Barcelona's habit of playing midfielders in defence will do them more harm than good," he wails.
  • (5) "Gnnmph, I can't 'ave it 'ere, I 'aven't 'ad my enema," wails a labouring housewife, straining fruitlessly on a communal tenement bog as horrified neighbours look on in their rollers.
  • (6) There were moments when music seemed to struggle to be heard over the tocking of iPod clickwheels and the wailing of record company executives.
  • (7) The army cleared itself of responsibility for the killing of a Palestinian family on a Gaza beach three weeks ago during an artillery barrage after many Israelis were shaken by television pictures of a traumatised child wailing over the body of her father.
  • (8) While Arsenal fans have spent the last nine years gnashing and wailing, Hull supporters have cheered the incredible resurrection of their club, as David Conn explains here .
  • (9) Some family members, after years of begging for mercy and receiving none, broke down and wailed.
  • (10) The big story Once upon a time the Oscar ceremony was a comforting drone punctuated only by the odd song-and-dance routine and the banshee wailing of overwhelmed best actress award winners.
  • (11) Elsewhere on the carpet Quentin Tarantino is having a bop with Uma Thurman (again), Xavier Dolan is wearing an outrageous tux (again) and the boring normal people at the barriers are wailing for stars' attention (again).
  • (12) Later that night, Lola wailed in the street as the police prised her baby from her arms and led her into custody.
  • (13) Family members who had gathered at a hotel in Beijing wailed as they heard the news.
  • (14) Naderi offered his prayers to Dhu’s family at the end of his evidence, saying: “I wish I was able to pick up any abnormal signs that may have made a difference.” Carol Roe ran crying from the courtroom, her wail flowing back through the door to where Naderi was seated in the witness box.
  • (15) Sorrowful wails and sobs resounded as thousands of Rwandans packed the country's main sports stadium to mark the 20th anniversary of the beginning of a devastating 100-day genocide.
  • (16) Sandy breaking out of the compound BB3 Sandy's insistence on his quirkiness got rather wearing, so it was just as well he made a bid for escape, with his new best friend Alex wailing, "Be careful, Sandy, be careful!"
  • (17) Starbucks admitted that while it can (quite incredibly) claim that its 700 UK stores are not profitable, through wails of what seemed like crocodile tears, its 30 coffee traders in Switzerland make an enormous 20% profit margin despite never seeing a coffee bean; a fact that the committee could not have helped noting might be related to the 12% tax it pays in that state.
  • (18) Their players are distraught and making a mess of everything, while the TV producer here is having an absolute ball picking out wailing Brazilians in the crowd.
  • (19) Another shows a scene of villagers wailing with grief: “Villagers grieve as their friend is put into the ambulance,” the voiceover says.
  • (20) Among those who finally decided that Kobani was on the brink was Mukdad Bozan, travelling with his wife, a wailing baby and three bedraggled older children.

Words possibly related to "sail"

Words possibly related to "wail"