Travel & Places
gondola
Computer-generated voice, not a recording. It may differ from the pronunciation guide.
IPA is the General American pronunciation listed by Wiktionary.
In short
A gondola is a long, narrow boat with a high bow and stern, traditionally moved with a single oar and best known from Venice.
The same word also names cable-car cabins and a few other things that hang or carry.
01 Meaning
What does gondola mean?
The Venetian boat is the oldest sense of the word, but it is not the only one. Dictionaries also list a hanging car or platform that carries people or cargo, such as a cable-car cabin, the basket of a balloon or a cradle used to clean windows.
In the United States, a gondola can also be an open railway car with low sides for heavy freight, and a free-standing display unit in a supermarket aisle. Context nearly always makes the meaning clear.
02 Word origin
Where does it come from?
English borrowed gondola from Italian, which took it from the Venetian word góndoła. Where the Venetian word came from is not settled. Wiktionary mentions a possible link to a Medieval Greek word for a kind of ship, but offers it only as a possibility.
03 In context
How to use it in a sentence
“The gondolier steered the gondola under the bridge with one slow stroke.”
“From the top of the mountain, the gondola glides back down to the village.”
Sources and updates
- gondola, Cambridge Dictionary. Checked October 20, 2026.
- gondola - Origin and history, Online Etymology Dictionary. Checked October 20, 2026.
- gondola, Wiktionary. Checked October 19, 2026.
Definitions and examples are written in our own words from the sources above. Published . Updated .