Standard Lemma guide

minelayer

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈmaɪnˌleɪɚ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A vehicle, device, or person with the purpose of laying (installing) explosive mines (landmines or naval mines).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: minesweeper

2

noun

Meaning 2

A vehicle, device, or person with the purpose of laying (installing) explosive mines (landmines or naval mines).

A ship capable of laying naval mines.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: specifically, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: minesweeper, minehunter

Broader terms: ship, watercraft, vessel, vehicle

3

noun

Meaning 3

ship equipped for laying marine mines

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: ship

History

Etymology

From mine + layer.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: мі́нны загараджа́льнік (mínny zaharadžálʹnik) — ship capable of laying mines
  • Bulgarian: минен заградител (minen zagraditel) — ship capable of laying mines
  • Catalan: minador — ship capable of laying mines
  • Chinese Mandarin: 布雷舰 (bùléijiàn) — ship capable of laying mines
  • Czech: minonoska — ship capable of laying mines
  • Danish: minelægger — ship capable of laying mines
  • Dutch: mijnenlegger — ship capable of laying mines
  • Esperanto: minportilo — ship capable of laying mines
  • Finnish: miinalaiva — ship capable of laying mines
  • French: mouilleur — ship capable of laying mines
  • German: Minenleger — ship capable of laying mines
  • Greek: ναρκοθέτις (narkothétis) — ship capable of laying mines
  • Italian: posamine — ship capable of laying mines
  • Japanese: 機雷敷設艦 (kirai fusetsu-kan) — ship capable of laying mines
  • Occitan: minador — ship capable of laying mines
  • Polish: stawiacz min — ship capable of laying mines
  • Romanian: puitor de mine — ship capable of laying mines
  • Russian: ми́нный загради́тель (mínnyj zagradítelʹ) — ship capable of laying mines
  • Serbo-Croatian: минопола̀га̄ч — ship capable of laying mines
  • Serbo-Croatian: minopolàgāč — ship capable of laying mines
  • Slovak: mínonoska — ship capable of laying mines
  • Spanish: minador — ship capable of laying mines
  • Swedish: minfartyg — ship capable of laying mines
  • Turkish: mayın gemisi — ship capable of laying mines
  • Ukrainian: мі́нний загоро́джувач (mínnyj zahoródžuvač) — ship capable of laying mines
Real reading context

minelayer in complete knowledge articles