1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

pilgrims

noun

plural of pilgrim
as in travelers
a person who travels to foreign lands A wandering pilgrim, he made his way across Europe before eventually settling in Madrid.

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pilgrims Usha Khatri's husband Indra Bahadur was working as a cook with a group of pilgrims when the flood hit the Nepal-China border. — ABC News, 17 Sep. 2026 Muslim prospective pilgrims climb the Jabal al-Nour (al-Noor mountain) to visit Hira Cave during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on June 01, 2025. — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2026 In Mina, the encampment outside Mecca where millions of pilgrims stay each year, buffet catering is provided, along with occasional surprises such as popcorn machines and ice cream. — Ruby Tandoh, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026 For generations, pilgrims have instead walked some 33 miles around its base. — Diaa Hadid, NPR, 1 Sep. 2026 Many of these foreign tourists were religious pilgrims, especially among the South Asian diaspora scattered around the world. — Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026 Scientists are still piecing together information from satellite and ground-level data to figure out exactly what happened to cause the flood, which killed at least 353 people and left more than 1,300 missing, including foreigners and pilgrims. — Sibi Arasu, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026 Scientists are still piecing together information from satellite and ground-level data to figure out exactly what happened to cause the flood, which killed hundreds of people and left over a thousand more missing, including foreigners and pilgrims. — CBS News, 27 Aug. 2026 More than 360 people were killed, police said, and more than 1,400 were missing, including scores of foreigners and pilgrims. — Shristi Kafle, Fortune, 27 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pilgrims
  1. travelers
  2. visitors
  3. tourists
Noun
  • Small shares of travelers stayed closer to home, chose less expensive destinations or shortened their trips.
    — Kamaron McNair, CNBC, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Even before Italy imposed the border checks, travelers leaving Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s other territory in North Africa, were already subject to EU border checks at ports and airports.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of travelers
Noun
  • No visit to Lithfield is complete without a visit to The White Memorial Conservation Center, and in particular, the Little Pond Boardwalk, an elevated walkway that allows visitors to experience the wetland environment.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Sep. 2026
  • According to information from Texas Legacy Realty, the H Mart Plaza developer, the area is a catalyst for growth and a destination, drawing visitors from throughout the DFW area.
    — Elizabeth Campbell, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of visitors
Noun
  • Every autumn, as the bay freezes, hundreds of these bears gather around it before heading out across the ice, and thousands of tourists come to see them.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Volcanic ash rose to 50,000 feet, drifting over Jakarta and western provinces, as authorities warned residents and tourists to stay two miles from the crater.
    — Tatan Syuflana, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of tourists

Browse Nearby Words

pilgrimaging
pilgrims
piling
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Pilgrims.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pilgrims. Accessed 18 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of churlish

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 18
See More

Popular

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
crayons-in-a-circle
Guess the Color Quiz Questions that use the whole box of crayons.
See All