suitor
Americannoun
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a man who courts or woos a woman.
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Law. a petitioner or plaintiff.
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a person who sues or petitions for anything.
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Informal. an individual who seeks to buy a business.
noun
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a man who courts a woman; wooer
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law a person who brings a suit in a court of law; plaintiff
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rare a person who makes a request or appeal for anything
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of suitor
1250–1300; Middle English s ( e ) utor, suitour < Anglo-French < Latin secūtor, equivalent to secū-, variant stem of sequī to follow + -tor -tor
Explanation
A suitor is a guy who asks you out on a date. You can describe your sister's prom escort as her suitor. The noun suitor is an old fashioned word for a somewhat old fashioned kind of person: a man who woos or courts a woman. If a boy serenades you from below your bedroom window, he is your suitor, especially if he hopes to marry you one day. In the fourteenth century, a suitor was a fan or follower — the romantic meaning came along almost two hundred years later. The root is the Latin word sequi, "to attend or follow."
Vocabulary lists containing suitor
The Odyssey
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Much Ado About Nothing
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The Suffix -or, Part 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It works splendidly for countless reasons, not the least of which is Neill’s presence as the charming suitor of Davis’ headstrong heroine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
But the suitor was an AI deepfake, making her yet another victim of an online romance scam.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Penelope is later seen declaring that "Ithaca's king is coming back", but her main suitor Antinous refuses to believe it.
From BBC ● May 5, 2026
Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group last year withdrew from talks for a possible 50-50 joint venture for the unit, Steel Europe, after Jindal emerged as a suitor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
When they entered the last suitor to make the trial had just failed.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Plain and cursed with spectacles, Mary’s on a speed train to spinsterhood when her relatives summon her to London, where suitors await.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Ten years after the fall of Troy, Odysseus still hasn’t returned home to Ithaca, and his kingdom has been overtaken by suitors crudely courting his wife’s hand.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
She prefers slumming it at extraterrestrial honky-tonks with suitors who look like armadillo-plated slugs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
However, Wall Street on Monday mused if other suitors may look to outbid Fox for Roku.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
One more who had avoided furious death was the son of Terpis, Phemios, the minstrel, singer by compulsion to the suitors.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
