(navigates, navigating, navigated)
1.
When someone navigates a ship or an aircraft somewhere, they decide which course to follow and steer it there. You can also say that a ship or an aircraft navigates somewhere.
Captain Cook safely navigated his ship without accident for 100 voyages...
The purpose of the visit was to navigate into an ice-filled fiord.
...the new navigation system which will enable aircraft to navigate with total pinpoint accuracy.
VERB: V n, V prep/adv, V
• navigation (navigations)
The expedition was wrecked by bad planning and poor navigation.
...the boat's navigation system.
N-VAR
2.
When a ship or boat navigates an area of water, it sails on or across it.
...a lock system to allow sea-going craft to navigate the upper reaches of the river...
Such boats can navigate on the Nile.
= sail
VERB: V n, V prep
3.
When someone in a car navigates, they decide what roads the car should be driven along in order to get somewhere.
When travelling on fast roads at night it is impossible to drive and navigate at the same time.
...the relief at successfully navigating across the Golden Gate Bridge to arrive here...
They had just navigated their way through Maidstone on their way to the coast.
VERB: V, V prep/adv, V way prep, also V n
4.
When fish, animals, or insects navigate somewhere, they find the right direction to go and travel there.
In tests, the bees navigate back home after being placed in a field a mile away.
VERB: V adv/prep, also V
5.
If you navigate an obstacle, you move carefully in order to avoid hitting the obstacle or hurting yourself.
He was not able to walk without a cane and could only navigate steps backwards...
In the corridors he let her navigate her own way round the trolleys and other obstacles...
If guests wished to use the sofa, they had first to navigate around chairs in the middle of the room.
= negotiate
VERB: V n, V way prep, V prep/adv