Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

portage

[pawr-tij, pohr-, pawr-tahzh] / ˈpɔr tɪdʒ, ˈpoʊr-, pɔrˈtɑʒ /








Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Reaching the final stretch of the portage, the group trudged past the power plant and its massive pipelines coming down the mountainside.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2025

This was an important historical spot for the Coast Salish peoples as a canoe portage between Lake Washington and Lake Union, before the Montlake Cut was dug to unite the two water bodies.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 3, 2023

If you don’t need quite as much power and portage, Satechi sells a 66W three USB-C port charger for $55.

From The Verge ● Jan. 7, 2022

The Indian Agency House was built along the portage route between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers in 1832 to house agent John H. Kinzie and his wife, Juliette.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 1, 2020

It looked not only impossible to go down—even with empty canoes—but the shoreline’s terrain looked too difficult to even build a portage.

From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple

Exploiting a series of portages linking Lake Michigan and local rivers, they paddled their canoes from Canada’s Atlantic shore to the Gulf of Mexico and as far west as the Rocky Mountains.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025

The closure includes all land, water, trails, portages, campsites, canoe routes and wilderness entry points and is in place until Aug. 27.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 21, 2021

Rom dangled her feet over the water, which was a couple miles of portages, rivers and rapids from the southwestern border of the Boundary Waters.

From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2017

There was one industry that the new city would excel in, which did not require ships, portages, or much labor at all.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 19, 2017

“The frequent bad rapids making so many portages necessary. Our position every day grows more serious; the food supply less.”

From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple

Recognizing that he could rise no higher in Kiev, this ambitious, natural-born commander sailed and portaged down the river Dnieper, then crossed the Black Sea to Miklagard, the Big City, as the Scandinavians called Constantinople.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 21, 2021

In his seminal book, The Emerald Mile, author Kevin Fedarko estimated the crew ran 414 rapids and portaged or lined the boats through another hundred or so.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 17, 2021

Paul found a campsite on a rocky point and we dropped our gear and portaged into Argo Lake for a scenic four-mile loop.

From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2016

They portaged about 15-20 yards and then paddled through a stretch of flooded timber.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 21, 2016

Unable to find the tender at this the last lock on our course, we portaged after the manner of old-time canoeists, and set out upon the home stretch of six miles.

From Historic Waterways?Six Hundred Miles of Canoeing Down the Rock, Fox, and Wisconsin Rivers by Reuben Gold Thwaites

All went well up to day 13 of 16, when the group of rafters approached Lava Falls, “the gnarliest rapid I’ve ever navigated” and one you can’t avoid by portaging.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2023

“We were portaging, and Wynn said to me, ‘I can’t make it,’ ” he recalled.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 26, 2022

At any rate, traveling by kayak means always having the option of simply taking to land and portaging everything into a better channel.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 18, 2022

All day on Friday, workmen made this fifteen-minute trek, portaging necessities for the evening: armfuls of peonies, sewing machines swathed in muslin, inscrutable spiky objects in gold.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 21, 2015

Tiller and Florida had traveled the length of Hidden River and had spent the last two hours portaging into the Goochee River.

From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech


Vocabulary lists containing portage

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training