travel

1 of 2

verb

trav·​el ˈtra-vəl How to pronounce travel (audio)
traveled or travelled; traveling or travelling ˈtra-və-liŋ How to pronounce travel (audio)
ˈtrav-liŋ

intransitive verb

1
a
: to go on or as if on a trip or tour : journey
b(1)
: to go as if by traveling : pass
the news traveled fast
(2)
: associate
travels with a sophisticated crowd
c
: to go from place to place as a sales representative or business agent
2
a(1)
: to move or undergo transmission from one place to another
goods traveling by plane
(2)
: to withstand relocation successfully
a dish that travels well
b
: to move in a given direction or path or through a given distance
the stylus travels in a groove
c
: to move rapidly
a car that can really travel
3
: to take more steps while holding a basketball than the rules allow

transitive verb

1
a
: to journey through or over
b
: to follow (a course or path) as if by traveling
2
: to traverse (a specified distance)
3
: to cover (an area) as a commercial traveler

travel

2 of 2

noun

1
a
: the act of traveling : passage
b
: a journey especially to a distant or unfamiliar place : tour, trip
often used in plural
2
travels plural : an account of one's travels
3
: the number traveling : traffic
4
a
: movement, progression
the travel of satellites around the earth
b
: the motion of a piece of machinery
especially : reciprocating motion
Phrases
travel light
: to travel with a minimum of equipment or baggage

Examples of travel in a Sentence

Verb The birds are traveling south for the winter. His job requires him to travel frequently. She enjoys traveling around Europe. They traveled cross-country from New York to California. The pain traveled down his back. the way that sound travels in an empty room That car was really traveling when it passed us. The order is traveling by plane. Noun She doesn't enjoy foreign travel. Air travel was affected by the storm. The book discusses the future of travel in outer space. We extended our travels for another week.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
The label celebrated its 30th birthday by launching a traveling exhibit that debuted in early December at the Valley Relics Museum in Van Nuys (and will be at both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas later this year). Josh Chesler, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2024 She’s spent much of the past year away from home, traveling across Spain and Latin America for her Trap Kitty world tour. Frances Solá-Santiago, Rolling Stone, 13 Mar. 2024 Railroads do have a remarkably safe track record — much better than trucks — and the statistics show there are only 2.1 derailments per every million miles freight travels on rail across the country. Josh Funk, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2024 During the event, Queen Camilla and Queen Mathilde boarded the WOW Girls Festival Bus, which had been traveling to schools and community centers around England to promote gender equality. Jordan Greene, Peoplemag, 12 Mar. 2024 So, why not adopt the Italian mindset and embrace a leisurely approach to traveling here this year? Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 12 Mar. 2024 The tour kicks off in early July and will travel to 37 cities this summer. Duante Beddingfield, Detroit Free Press, 12 Mar. 2024 The tour will kick off on July 5 in Bonner, Mont., and travel to Los Angeles, Denver, Cincinnati, Toronto, New York City, Boston, Atlanta, and many more cities. Monica Hooper, arkansasonline.com, 12 Mar. 2024 The suspects all face a range of charges, some of which include human trafficking, use of a computer to solicit a guardian, traveling to meet a minor and use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony. Stephen Sorace, Fox News, 12 Mar. 2024
Noun
Kathryn O’Shea-Evans is a design and travel writer in Colorado. Kathryn O'Shea Evans, Washington Post, 14 Mar. 2024 Each upgrade is selling for a $49 introductory rate per flight segment for travel between April 10 and April 30. Stella Shon, Travel + Leisure, 13 Mar. 2024 Toyoda and other officials stressed that space travel succeeds only after multiple failures. Yuri Kageyama, Quartz, 13 Mar. 2024 The fresh cut is bursting with pop vitality, and, since the stroke of midnight, is accompanied with an official music video that follows Max on his travels from Los Angeles, CA to Seoul, South Korea where the pair get down to moving and grooving for the cameras. Lars Brandle, Billboard, 13 Mar. 2024 Similarly, the life coach and astrologist Jenn Kosh suggests leaning into the archetypes of your sign as a way to experiment with your travels. Michaela Trimble, Vogue, 13 Mar. 2024 His work as The Arizona Republic’s consumer travel reporter aims to help readers navigate the stresses of traveling and get the best value for their money on their vacations. Michael Salerno, The Arizona Republic, 12 Mar. 2024 Still the safest means of travel Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg addressed consumer concerns around flying at a recent press conference. Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 12 Mar. 2024 Spring Break 2024: When Ohio's major universities, colleges go on break, travel warnings issued. Keith Pandolfi, The Enquirer, 2 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'travel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English travailen, travelen to torment, labor, strive, journey, from Anglo-French travailler

First Known Use

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of travel was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near travel

Cite this Entry

“Travel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/travel. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

travel

1 of 2 verb
trav·​el ˈtrav-əl How to pronounce travel (audio)
traveled or travelled; traveling or travelling -(ə-)liŋ How to pronounce travel (audio)
1
: to journey from place to place or to a distant place
2
: to move or advance from one place to another
the news traveled fast

travel

2 of 2 noun
1
a
: the act or means of traveling
air travel is fast
b
: journey entry 1, trip
often used in plural
2
plural : an account of one's travels
Etymology

Verb

Middle English travailen "torment, labor, strive, journey," from early French travailler "torment, labor," from an unrecorded Latin verb tripaliare "to torture," from Latin tripalium "an instrument of torture," literally "three stakes," derived from tri- "three" and palus "stake, pale" — related to pale entry 3, travail

Word Origin
With our modern cars, ships, and airplanes and our many restaurants and hotels, travel today is not difficult. But in the Middle Ages roads were poor and places to eat and sleep were far apart. Travel was hard, uncomfortable work—even torture. In fact, our word travel comes from a Latin word that meant "torture." Many devices were used in the Middle Ages for torture in an effort to force confessions from persons accused of crimes. One of these devices, called in Latin a tripalium, gave us our word travel. The word tripalium, literally "three stakes," was derived from Latin tri-, meaning "three" and palus, meaning "stake, pale." This word is thought to have been the source of the Latin verb tripaliare, meaning "to torture." In early French the word became travailler, with both the meaning "to torment" and the meaning "to work hard." This early French word was taken into Middle English as travailen, with the meaning "to work hard" and "to travel." In time these two meanings became separated into different words, travail, which means "hard work," and travel, which means "to go on a trip."

More from Merriam-Webster on travel

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