tripped; tripping
1
: to catch the foot against something so as to stumble
2
: to make a mistake or false step (as in morality or accuracy)
3
a
: to dance, skip, or caper with light quick steps
b
: to walk with light quick steps
4
: to stumble in articulation when speaking
5
: to make a journey
6
a
: to actuate a mechanism
b
: to become operative
7
a
: to get high on a psychedelic drug (such as LSD) : turn on
—often used with out
b
slang
: freak sense 3b
1
a
: to cause to stumble
—often used with up
b
: to cause to fail : obstruct
—often used with up
2
: to detect in a misstep, fault, or blunder
3
: to release or operate (a mechanism) especially by releasing a catch or detent
trip the fire alarm
4
: to raise (an anchor) from the bottom so as to hang free
5
a
: to pull (a yard) into a perpendicular position for lowering
b
: to hoist (a topmast) far enough to enable the fid to be withdrawn preparatory to housing or lowering
6
archaic
: to perform (a dance) lightly or nimbly
2
a
: an intense visionary experience undergone by a person who has taken a psychedelic drug (such as LSD)
b
: an exciting or unusual experience
the party was a trip
3
: absorption in or obsession with an interest, attitude, or state of mind
a guilt trip
on a nostalgia trip
4
: a faltering step caused by stumbling
5
: a stroke or catch by which a wrestler is made to lose footing
7
: a quick light step
8
a
: the action of tripping mechanically
b
: a device for tripping a mechanism (such as a catch or detent)
Synonyms
Examples of trip in a Sentence
Verb
He deliberately tried to trip me.
The dancers tripped off the stage.
Noun
They got back from their trip yesterday.
a trip around the world
He was on an acid trip.
an ankle injury caused by a trip
Recent Examples on the Web
Eric Geller, WIRED, 15 Apr. 2024
Guests can enjoy breakfast and dinner from the Phantom Ranch Canteen with beverages and snacks available from the canteen's side window from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Phantom Ranch guests can also book one- or two-night mule trips during their stay.
Reach the reporter at LLatch@gannett.com.
—The Arizona Republic, 30 Mar. 2024
Beach cabana usage, trips to the spa’s hydrotherapy pool and body treatments, and any off-property excursions are optional extras.
—Katherine Alex Beaven, Travel + Leisure, 20 Mar. 2024
Is the sidewalk not broken so our elders aren’t tripping and falling?
—David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024
The Grammy-winners start off strong — correctly naming all four original Voice coaches — before the question about who has appeared in every single season of show trips them up.
—Alex Ross, Peoplemag, 18 Mar. 2024
Don't trip over wobbly boards and protruding nails this summer.
—Cincinnati Enquirer, The Enquirer, 29 Mar. 2024
How does something as terrestrially mundane as budgeting continually trip them up?
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 29 Mar. 2024
As Kelly explains, vestibular rehab exercises generally fall into three buckets:
Balance training: This improves your steadiness in situations that are literally tripping you up—like walking on uneven ground or in the dark.
—Amy Norton, SELF, 29 Mar. 2024
William Burns, TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
America’s Next Top Model was at its peak; Ugly Betty and The Devil Wears Prada were banking millions; and entire school trips’ worth of children were being taken to Birmingham trade centres for The Clothes Show Live.
—Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 17 Apr. 2024
Five homers and 11 runs the next game were followed by 14 total runs over the final four games of the trip, including 35 strikeouts over the three-game series in Miami.
—Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2024
And by the way, a lot of these things increase in importance as the size of your trip increases.
—Jason Del Rey, Fortune, 17 Apr. 2024
Not making the trip from Musée Camille Claudel — the French national museum dedicated to her work, opened in 2017 in her hometown of Nogent-sur-Seine, south of Paris — is her final work, a marble masterpiece, Perseus and the Gorgon.
—Jordan Riefe, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Apr. 2024
Theron shared rare photos with her daughters from her family's trip to Walt Disney World.
—Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 16 Apr. 2024
The Razorbacks went to the Elite Eight in just his second season (2021), then followed with another Elite Eight trip in 2022 and a Sweet 16 berth in 2023 before skidding to a 16-17 mark and tying for 11th in the SEC standings in 2024.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 5 Apr. 2024
Carrie, who is afraid of plane travel, plans a cross-country train trip with the final destination being a luxury hotel in San Francisco.
—Cady Lang, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
Verb
In 2023, China broke into the email accounts of 22 federal agencies, spying on senior State Department officials and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo ahead of multiple US delegation trips to Beijing.
—Eric Geller, WIRED, 15 Apr. 2024
Guests can enjoy breakfast and dinner from the Phantom Ranch Canteen with beverages and snacks available from the canteen's side window from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Phantom Ranch guests can also book one- or two-night mule trips during their stay.
Reach the reporter at LLatch@gannett.com.
—The Arizona Republic, 30 Mar. 2024
Beach cabana usage, trips to the spa’s hydrotherapy pool and body treatments, and any off-property excursions are optional extras.
—Katherine Alex Beaven, Travel + Leisure, 20 Mar. 2024
Is the sidewalk not broken so our elders aren’t tripping and falling?
—David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024
The Grammy-winners start off strong — correctly naming all four original Voice coaches — before the question about who has appeared in every single season of show trips them up.
—Alex Ross, Peoplemag, 18 Mar. 2024
Don't trip over wobbly boards and protruding nails this summer.
—Cincinnati Enquirer, The Enquirer, 29 Mar. 2024
How does something as terrestrially mundane as budgeting continually trip them up?
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 29 Mar. 2024
As Kelly explains, vestibular rehab exercises generally fall into three buckets:
Balance training: This improves your steadiness in situations that are literally tripping you up—like walking on uneven ground or in the dark.
—Amy Norton, SELF, 29 Mar. 2024
Noun
For President Joe Biden, Burns undertook a back-channel mission to Moscow to try to avert the Ukraine war and has made multiple trips to Kyiv to search for ways to end it.
—William Burns, TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
America’s Next Top Model was at its peak; Ugly Betty and The Devil Wears Prada were banking millions; and entire school trips’ worth of children were being taken to Birmingham trade centres for The Clothes Show Live.
—Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 17 Apr. 2024
Five homers and 11 runs the next game were followed by 14 total runs over the final four games of the trip, including 35 strikeouts over the three-game series in Miami.
—Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2024
And by the way, a lot of these things increase in importance as the size of your trip increases.
—Jason Del Rey, Fortune, 17 Apr. 2024
Not making the trip from Musée Camille Claudel — the French national museum dedicated to her work, opened in 2017 in her hometown of Nogent-sur-Seine, south of Paris — is her final work, a marble masterpiece, Perseus and the Gorgon.
—Jordan Riefe, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Apr. 2024
Theron shared rare photos with her daughters from her family's trip to Walt Disney World.
—Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 16 Apr. 2024
The Razorbacks went to the Elite Eight in just his second season (2021), then followed with another Elite Eight trip in 2022 and a Sweet 16 berth in 2023 before skidding to a 16-17 mark and tying for 11th in the SEC standings in 2024.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 5 Apr. 2024
Carrie, who is afraid of plane travel, plans a cross-country train trip with the final destination being a luxury hotel in San Francisco.
—Cady Lang, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trip.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near trip
Cite this Entry
“Trip.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trip. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
trip
1 of 2 noun1
: an act of causing another to stumble or fall
2
a
: a traveling from one place to another : journey
a trip to Europe
b
: a brief errand or journey with a purpose that often takes place on a regular basis
a trip to the dentist
3
4
a
: a quick light step
b
: a faltering step : stumble
5
a
: the action of releasing something mechanically
b
: a device (as a catch) for releasing a mechanism
trip
2 of 2 verb
tripped; tripping
1
: to move (as in dancing or walking) with light quick steps
2
a
: to catch one's foot against something so as to stumble
don't trip over the rock
b
: to cause to stumble
someone must have tripped him
3
a
: to make or cause to make a mistake
b
: to catch making a false statement, error, or blunder
questions designed to trip her up
4
: to release or start a device usually by moving a catch
tripped the fire alarm
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