guest

1 of 2

noun

ˈgest 

1

a

: a person entertained in one's house

b

: a person to whom hospitality is extended

c

: a person who pays for the services of an establishment (such as a hotel or restaurant)

2

: an organism (such as an insect) sharing the dwelling of another

especially : inquiline

3

: a substance that is incorporated in a host substance

4

: a usually prominent person not a regular member of a cast or organization who appears in a program or performance

guest

2 of 2

verb

guested; guesting; guests

transitive verb

: to receive as a guest

intransitive verb

: to appear as a guest

Synonyms

Noun

• caller
• drop-in
• frequenter
• visitant
• visitor

Examples of guest in a Sentence

Noun

Our guests should be arriving soon.

Only invited guests are allowed inside the banquet hall.

He played at the country club as a guest of one of the members.

Our guests receive the finest quality service.

Frequent guests receive a discount.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

All invites for Saturday’s inaugural show were free to invited press, guests and workers who had helped design and construct the £365 million, or $465 million, building). —Richard Smirke, Billboard, 22 Apr. 2024

And, many of the musicians and notable guests who performed and spoke throughout the night echoed that perspective. —Lynnette Nicholas, Essence, 22 Apr. 2024

Delphine will offer a spot for food, lounging and dancing for the entire Costa Palmas community including Four Seasons Resort Los Cabos and soon-to-be Aman Resorts guests, along with those who anchor via yacht. —Nicole Fell, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Apr. 2024

The Dunkin' welcomed guests starting at 5 a.m. on Monday in time for this week's NFL draft visitors. —Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 22 Apr. 2024

Most guests had the same idea, with the nighttime hours increasing the liveliness of the adjacent bar area with a glittering cityscape as a backdrop. —Kristin Braswell, Travel + Leisure, 21 Apr. 2024

Hendricks and Bianchini then treated their guests to a sit-down, multi-course dinner fittingly featuring Southern New Orleans fare. —Emily Strohm, Peoplemag, 21 Apr. 2024

Many of the participants and guests stopped by our portrait studio: John Green, Henry Winkler, Sophia Bush, Max Greenfield, Lois Lowry and more poets, artists, chefs, journalists, celebrities and musicians. —Taylor Arthur, Los Angeles Times, 21 Apr. 2024

Elsewhere in the footage, McAvoy’s character keeps finding new and creative ways to make sure his guests feel deeply unsettled. —Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 11 Apr. 2024

Verb

Disney Branded Television confirmed to USA TODAY that Gomez will guest star in the pilot but is not expected to be a series regular. —Dina Kaur, The Arizona Republic, 28 Feb. 2024

Gomez will guest star in the pilot opposite Henrie, who originally played her older brother Justin Russo, She is not expected to be a series regular. —Jay Stahl, USA TODAY, 18 Jan. 2024

A day after that, McAfee announced on-air that Rodgers, who typically guests on the show on Tuesdays, would not return this season. —Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 11 Jan. 2024

Images courtesy of Daniel Arnold for Gucci Then, at the Paris haute couture shows, Simone Rocha will become the sixth designer and only the second woman after Sacai’s Chitose Abe to guest design a Jean Paul Gaultier collection. —Nicole Phelps, Vogue, 2 Jan. 2024

John Legend, Teigen’s husband, will also guest star in addition to appearances from Kumail Nanjiani, Regina Hall, Simu Liu and other celebrities. —Starr Bowenbank, Billboard, 6 Nov. 2023

While appearing on his SiriusXM radio show, Radio Andy, earlier this week, Andy Cohen revealed to guest Danny Pellegrino that the RHONJ cast was supposed to travel to the Berkshires in Massachusetts, but a fire ruined their plans. —Nicholas Rice, Peoplemag, 28 Oct. 2023

Ever since Thalía invited Becky to guest on one of her songs back in 2015, the two have stayed close, reaching out to compliment each other and trade advice. —Julyssa Lopez, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2023

During an episode of her daytime talk show this week, Clarkson spoke to guest Bowen Yang about Swift and Travis Kelce’s surprise Saturday Night Live appearance and the sketch lampooning the NFL’s newfound obsession with the couple. —Vulture, 22 Oct. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English gest, gyst, gust, gist "person to whom hospitality is extended, visitor, stranger," going back to Old English giest, gyst, gest, gæst (with Middle English g probably in part from Old Norse gestr), going back to Germanic *gasti- (whence also Old Frisian jest "guest," Old Saxon & Old High German gast "guest, stranger," Old Norse gestr, Gothic gasts "stranger") going back to dialectal Indo-European *ghost-i- "outsider, guest," whence also Old Church Slavic gostĭ "guest," Latin hostis "foreigner, stranger" (in early use), "enemy"

Note: An etymon limited to three western Indo-European branches. Further analysis of the word has been made on the basis of early use of Latin hostis, taken to mean, on the basis of the Law of the Twelve Tables, "outsider due the same right of ownership as a Roman citizen"; from the same base would be hostus "yield of olive oil from a single pressing" (narrowed from a presumed more general "yield, compensation"), the derived verb hostīre "to recompense, requite," and the noun hostia "sacrificial animal, sacrifice" ("recompense to the gods," perhaps originally feminine of an adjective *hostius, the deleted noun having designated an animal; see host entry 3). Ancestral *ghos-ti- could hypothetically be a derivative of an Indo-European verbal base *ǵhes- "take, give in exchange." With the loss in later Roman practice of the strict legal meaning, Latin hostis became restricted in meaning to "hostile outsider, enemy." This shift is noted by varro, who remarked that hostis was used by "our ancestors" in a sense now covered by peregrīnus (see pilgrim).

Verb

Middle English gesten, derivative of gest guest entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Phrases Containing guest

• be my guest
• guest appearance
• guest bedroom
• guest book
• guest list
• guest of honor
• guest room
• guest speaker
• guest worker
• paying guest

Kids Definition

guest

noun

ˈgest

1

: a person entertained in one's house

2

: a person to whom hospitality is given

guests at a school banquet

3

: a customer at a hotel, motel, inn, or restaurant

4

: a usually well-known person who appears or performs on a program by invitation

guests on a TV show

Biographical Definition

Guest

biographical name

ˈgest 

Edgar Albert 1881–1959 American journalist and poet