tour
Americannoun
-
tours
plural
-
a traveling around from place to place.
-
a long journey including the visiting of a number of places in sequence, especially with an organized group led by a guide.
- Synonyms:
- expedition, trip
-
a brief trip through a place, as a building or a site, in order to view or inspect it.
The visiting prime minister was given a tour of the chemical plant.
-
a journey from town to town to fulfill engagements, as by a theatrical company or an entertainer.
to go on tour; a European concert tour.
-
a period of duty at one place or in one job.
verb (used without object)
-
tours,
present (3rd person singular)
-
toured,
past participle, past
-
touring
present participle
-
to travel from place to place.
- Synonyms:
- visit
-
to travel from town to town fulfilling engagements.
verb (used with object)
-
tours,
present (3rd person singular)
-
toured,
past participle, past
-
touring
present participle
-
to travel through (a place).
- Synonyms:
- visit
-
to send or take (a theatrical company, its production, etc.) from town to town.
-
to guide (someone) on a tour.
He toured us through the chateaus of the Loire Valley.
noun
-
an extended journey, usually taken for pleasure, visiting places of interest along the route
-
military a period of service, esp in one place of duty
-
a short trip, as for inspection
-
a trip made by a theatre company, orchestra, etc, to perform in several different places
a concert tour
-
an overseas trip made by a cricket or rugby team, etc, to play in several places
verb
-
to make a tour of (a place)
-
to perform (a show) or promote (a product) in several different places
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
toursimple
-
tourssimple
-
have touredperfect
-
has touredperfect
-
am touringprogressive
-
are touringprogressive
-
is touringprogressive
-
have been touringperfect progressive
-
has been touringperfect progressive
Past
-
touredsimple
-
had touredperfect
-
was touringprogressive
-
were touringprogressive
-
had been touringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tour
1250–1300; Middle English (noun) < Middle French < Latin tornus < Greek tórnos tool for making a circle. See turn
Explanation
Use the noun tour to describe a route taken while sight-seeing or the act of experiencing a place, like a tour of Italy in which travelers tour museums and churches. Not all tours have to do with vacations. In fact, a tour can be quite the opposite, such as a snowplow driver whose tour during a blizzard lasts until the streets are clear, or military personnel who serve a tour of duty in the place they are assigned. These kinds of tours involve a commitment of work or service for a certain period of time.
Vocabulary lists containing tour
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"Earth and Space"
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Greetings, World Traveler! — List 3
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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:
The movie is seeded with nods to Green Day lore, scripted over long sessions riffing with the band over its tour catastrophes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Cool recalled the mayhem of a 1991 European winter tour when the band played 64 shows in three months.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Leandro Wanton, a 45-year-old tour guide, admits there are days when frustration becomes difficult to contain.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
For Dr Agata Chrzanowksa, an art historian and tour guide in Florence, the hills and mountains north of the city are "a very good spot to runaway from the heat" for those driving.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
“Just got a letter from her. She’s on a ’round-the-world tour with her friends from the croquet club.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Medina, director of operations at Vivicos International Travel, has also seen higher demand for 08:00 tours.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
The gains were helped by international growth, as bigger artists went on bigger tours and Live Nation reaped the rewards of venue purchases in cities like Paris and Milan.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
Shore excursions include bespoke tours of local pubs in Prague and nighttime city treks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
She tours major international defence shows, negotiates with arms manufacturers and takes part in discussions on Europe's rearmament.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Earlier in Malia’s junior year, the two of us had gone to spend a day visiting colleges in New York City, for instance, setting up tours at New York University and Columbia.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Tuesday evening’s fundraiser marks Trump’s second trip to L.A. since returning to office, with the first taking place in January 2025 when he toured the fire-ravaged areas of the Pacific Palisades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
In late June and early July he toured Scotland in a white Ford Transit van, visiting various locations including Dunoon, Glencoe, John O'Groats, Skye, Uist, Barra and Lewis.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Across the last 60 years or so, Kaye has toured the globe, worked with amazing musicians, and witnessed multiple incredible moments.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026
Yancopoulos and Schleifer toured real estate across New Jersey, Long Island and Manhattan—before they finally settled on an industrial park in Tarrytown, N.Y., for Regeneron.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Malcolm X toured Clay about in Harlem, and in other places, functioning, he said, as Clay’s “friend and religious advisor.”
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
On a past river cruise down the Danube, he fondly recalls learning about different cultures and touring local Christmas markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
I’m moving from Philadelphia to New York City in September and I’ve been touring apartments.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
The Glasgow-based company has cut the number of performances of its winter production to 17 in December, citing the "unsustainable economics of touring to Edinburgh".
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Later tours reconfigured the chandelier’s choreography, hanging it on one fixed point to lower and lift up and down without the sideways travel — a much easier installation for touring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
After about a half hour of touring the lower and upper quads, some of the dorms, and the Cramton Auditorium, it’s time to sit in on a lecture by one of Howard’s professors.
From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi
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.
