journey

noun

jour·ney | \ ˈjər-nē

plural journeys

Definition of journey

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : something suggesting travel or passage from one place to another the journey from youth to maturity a journey through time

2 : an act or instance of traveling from one place to another : trip a three-day journey going on a long journey

3 chiefly dialectal : a day's travel

journey

verb

journeyed; journeying

Definition of journey (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

: to go on a journey : travel

transitive verb

: to travel over or through

Other Words from journey Synonyms Choose the Right Synonym Did You Know? More Example Sentences Learn More about journey

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Choose the Right Synonym for journey

Noun

journey, trip, and tour mean travel from one place to another. journey usually means traveling a long distance and often in dangerous or difficult circumstances. They made the long journey across the desert. trip can be used when the traveling is brief, swift, or ordinary. We took our weekly trip to the store. tour is used for a journey with several stops that ends at the place where it began. Sightseers took a tour of the city.

Did You Know?

The Latin adjective diurnus means “pertaining to a day, daily”; English diurnal stems ultimately from this word. When Latin developed into French, diurnus became a noun, jour, meaning simply “day” The medieval French derivative journee meant either “day” or “something done during the day,” such as work or travel. Middle English borrowed journee as journey in both senses, but only the sense “a day’s travel” survived into modern usage. In modern English, journey now refers to a trip without regard to the amount of time it takes. The verb journey developed from the noun and is first attested in the 14th century.

Examples of journey in a Sentence

Noun

a long journey across the country She's on the last leg of a six-month journey through Europe. We wished her a safe and pleasant journey.

Verb

She was the first woman to journey into space. an intense yearning to journey to distant lands

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Boaters will meander down the river for 6.3 miles, a journey of approximately two hours. — Molly Korzenowski, Twin Cities, "Mississippi River Paddle Share to reopen in St. Paul," 3 July 2019 The accident delayed the journeys of thousands of commuters eager to start their Fourth of July weekend as cars were rerouted and buses were delayed. — Washington Post, "Truck crash snarls commute out of NYC on eve of holiday," 3 July 2019 Indianapolis Indians outfielder Trayvon Robinson talks about the journey of ups and downs that have brought him back to minor league baseball. — Dana Hunsinger Benbow, Indianapolis Star, "Indians' Trayvon Robinson's rise from darkness, fall from big leagues and return to the light," 2 July 2019 In a journey of self-discovery, Eleven (who was born as Jane) used her powers to track down her birth mother, Terry. — Christina Dugan, PEOPLE.com, "Stranger Things 3: Everything to Remember Before Watching the New Season," 2 July 2019 Finally, Janet Malcolm traces the journeys of Anton Chekhov and revisits his plays. — Erin Overbey, The New Yorker, "Sunday Reading: A Night at the Theatre," 30 June 2019 Eleven Stranger Things‘ sophomore season sees Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) go on a bit of a journey of self-discovery. — Lauren Huff, EW.com, "Everything you need to remember about Stranger Things before watching season 3," 28 June 2019 Boy Meets World follows the journey of Cory, Shawn, Topanga Lawrence and Cory's brother, Eric Matthews, experiencing life's ups and downs together. — Selena Barrientos, House Beautiful, "Here's What Really Happened to the 'Boy Meets World' House," 28 June 2019 This is the 100-year journey of the U.S. Army helmet. — David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, "The Century-Long Evolution of the U.S. Army Helmet," 27 June 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

In January, 2015, when Rodríguez and her family were journeying north, a professor at Columbia Law School named Elora Mukherjee flew south to bring legal aid to Dilley. — Sarah Stillman, The New Yorker, "How Families Separated at the Border Could Make the Government Pay," 15 June 2019 Twenty-four of the best national teams in the world have journeyed to France to vie for soccer's greatest prize. — Kevin Dotson, CNN, "The FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off a big sports weekend featuring the Belmont Stakes and NHL Stanley Cup Final," 7 June 2019 This came after the translation of his 1988 bestseller The Alchemist, an allegorical novel about a shepherd boy who journeys to the pyramids in Egypt in search of a fortune. — Abdi Latif Dahir, Quartz Africa, "Paulo Coelho wants to give his books free to schools and libraries in Africa," 31 May 2019 Raul Ruidiaz journeyed back from visiting family in Peru. — Geoff Baker, The Seattle Times, "Sounders survive last-minute scare to extend unbeaten mark to four games," 31 Mar. 2019 Soon Protestants from Lyon journeyed there to drink in the word of the Lord and families afflicted by the coal mines of Saint-Étienne went to breathe the clean mountain air. — Lucian Perkins, Smithsonian, "This French Town Has Welcomed Refugees for 400 Years," 27 June 2018 His book is about an immigrant Swede of unusual size journeying in America’s desert frontier between the Gold Rush and the Civil War. — Lawrence Downes, New York Times, "A Debut Novel. A Tiny Press. A Pulitzer Finalist.," 2 May 2018 The organization expects the worst traffic to occur in San Francisco, New York City and Boston and adds: AAA projects 54.3 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more away from home this Thanksgiving, a 4.8 percent increase over last year. — James Freeman, WSJ, "Prosperity and its Temporary Side Effects," 19 Nov. 2018 But for many, the meeting continues to be an opportunity for world-class networking among the 3,000 delegates and the hundreds of others who journey there. — Stephen Fidler, WSJ, "Trump, Key European Leaders Skip Davos Amid Turmoil at Home," 21 Jan. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'journey.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.