travel

verb trav·el \ ˈtra-vəl \

Updated on: 21 Apr 2018

traveled or travelled; traveling or travelling play \ˈtra-və-liŋ, 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 light

: to travel with a minimum of equipment or baggage

See travel defined for English-language learners

See travel defined for kids

Examples of travel in a Sentence

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.

Recent Examples of travel from the Web

The man, who had just traveled 5,000 miles home to Worcestershire, was unpacking his luggage when the venomous critter fell out.

— tom tracey, Fox News, "British tourist finds venomous scorpion stowing away in his luggage," 17 Apr. 2018
Two crashes were reported around 2:30 p.m. One tractor-trailer was traveling north when a strong wind blew the trailer off the vehicle and over the side of the road, crushing the right-side guardrail and some highway signs, police said.

— abigail feldman, BostonGlobe.com, "‘Extremely dangerous’ winds in northern N.H. were behind 3 tractor-trailer wrecks," 17 Apr. 2018
Since the trains can travel at speeds as high as 110 mph, a one-way trip on the 62-mile ride from Springfield to New Haven is scheduled to take 81 minutes, officials said.

— christopher keating, courant.com, "Hartford Rail Line Service To Start June 16," 17 Apr. 2018
Drivers traveling east were rerouted off the I-10 onto Salome Road, around the crash and back onto the I-10.

— robert gundran, azcentral, "One dead, 1 hurt in semi-truck collision on I-10 east near Tonopah," 17 Apr. 2018
McManamin helped students with their studies and said Mass when the teams traveled.

— jacques kelly, baltimoresun.com, "Fr. Francis G. McManamin, Jesuit priest and teacher, dies," 17 Apr. 2018
Until completion, northbound and southbound traffic traveling North Main will continue to be rerouted to two lanes on North Commerce Street.

— jeff caplan, star-telegram, "'It hurts, man': North Main bridge construction pushes businesses to the brink | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 16 Apr. 2018
Whereas the Mad Island coastal woods attract both trans-Gulf migrants and those traveling north along the eastern coastline of Mexico, most songbirds arriving at High Island have flown over the Gulf.

— bruce m. beehler, Smithsonian, "Thirty-Seven Warblers in a Hundred Days," 16 Apr. 2018
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week, this amount covered Zuckerberg’s protection at home and while traveling.

— david meyer, Fortune, "Mark Zuckerberg's Security Costs Shot Up Last Year Due to 'Specific Threats to His Safety'," 16 Apr. 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of travel

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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

See Words from the same year

travel Synonyms

Phrases

beat it, get a move on, make tracks, shake a leg, step on it;

travel

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

See travel defined for English-language learners

Examples of travel in a Sentence

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 of travel from the Web

As Hawaiian Airlines offers travel waivers to those who booked flights to Kauai, visitors with trips planned should contact the property manager or realtor of their vacation rental.

— carly mallenbaum, USA TODAY, "Hawaii flood: Here's what travelers should know before visiting Kauai," 18 Apr. 2018
Despite this incident, commercial airline travel remains vastly safer than other methods of transportation.

— colin campbell, baltimoresun.com, "What you need to know about the Southwest Airlines engine failure," 18 Apr. 2018
Communities across the country have found these tools effective in improving traffic conditions and enhancing travel time reliability, according to a recent ODOT release.

— rosemarie stein, OregonLive.com, "Portland Metro WednesdayTraffic: Tigard 'Value Pricing' (tolling) meeting tonight," 18 Apr. 2018
Although Palestine, and later the State of Israel, would remain a passion of Einstein’s for the rest of his life, the impression left by his travel diaries and letters is that Japan interested him more.

— sandra dionisi, Smithsonian, "When Albert Einstein Visited Japan," 18 Apr. 2018
Washington recalled its staff in September and issued a travel warning against Cuba.

— casey quackenbush, Time, "Canada Recalls Families of Diplomats in Cuba Following Mystery Illness," 17 Apr. 2018
The Legislature passed stricter rules after a 2016 scandal over excessive travel spending by then-House Speaker David Gowan.

— rebekah l. sanders, azcentral, "Maricopa County politicians now must disclose free trips," 17 Apr. 2018
The speaker starts at 7:30 p.m. but guests can come early, by 7 p.m., to socialize, browse CHS library books, participate in the raffle, see travel fliers and ask plant questions.

— Courant Community, "Community News For The West Hartford Edition," 17 Apr. 2018
Let Anita Patrickson, who outfits Julianne Hough and Portia de Rossi, complete your summer travel look with kicks from her new line, Amanu.

— lesley mckenzie, The Hollywood Reporter, "This Celeb Stylist Is Designing Made-to-Order Luxury Sandals," 17 Apr. 2018

First Known Use of travel

14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

travel Synonyms

Synonyms

expedition, journey, passage, peregrination, trek, trip;

cruise, sail, voyage;

drive, ride, spin;

grand tour, odyssey, pilgrimage, progress, quest, safari;

hike, slog, tramp, walk;

TRAVEL Defined for English Language Learners

travel

verb

: to go on a trip or journey : to go to a place and especially one that is far away
: to go through or over (a place) during a trip or journey
: to move from one place to another

travel

noun

: the act or activity of traveling
travels : trips or journeys to distant places

TRAVEL Defined for Kids

travel

verb trav·el \ ˈtra-vəl \

traveled or travelled; traveling or travelling

1 : to journey from place to place or to a distant place

2 : to get around : pass from one place to another

The news traveled fast.

3 : to journey through or over

We're traveling the countryside.

—

traveler

or traveller noun

History for travel

For many of us travel is usually for pleasure, so that we are unlikely to associate travel with hard labor or torture. However, the ultimate source of travel is a spoken Latin verb trepaliare, “to torture,” derived from trepalium, a name for an instrument of torture. Trepaliare developed into medieval French travailler, which meant “to torture or torment,” as well as “to suffer or labor.” Middle English borrowed the French verb as travailen with the same sense. But the difficulties of getting from place to place in the Middle Ages, when any journey was an exhausting effort, led medieval speakers of English to apply travailen to making a trip. We still use the word, though travel is now much easier.