supertankern.
/ˈsuːpəˌtaŋkə/, /ˈsjuːpəˌtaŋkə/, U.S. /ˈsupərˌtæŋkər/ A very large oil tanker (tanker n.1 1).
ΚΠ
1921 Mex Fuel Oil (Anglo-Mexican Petroleum Co.) 7 These losses are being made good by the building of several supertankers, commencing with the San Florentino..18,000 tons.
1957 Life 25 Mar. 136/2 Give us this 'ere atomic power and those new supertankers that'll go around the Cape, and Nasser can bloody well have his bloody damn canal.
1977 Whitaker's Almanack 1035/2 A serious problem would be the shipping and supertankers passing round Cape Horn.
2005 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 17 June 14 Two weeks earlier another supertanker was attacked by a group of men with AK47s as it waited to load crude oil.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1921