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• usher
  usher

  noun

  a person who escorts people to seats in a theater, church, etc.
• Usher
  Usher

  noun

  James. Ussher, James.

usher

¹ American  

[uhsh-er] / ˈʌʃ ər /

noun

• ushers
  plural

1. a person who escorts people to seats in a theater, church, etc.

2. a person acting as an official doorkeeper, as in a courtroom or legislative chamber.

3. a male attendant of a bridegroom at a wedding.

4. an officer whose business it is to introduce strangers or to walk before a person of rank.

5. British Archaic. a subordinate teacher or an assistant in a school.

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verb (used with object)

• ushers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• ushered,
  past participle,  past
• ushering
  present participle

1. to act as an usher to; lead, introduce, or conduct.

   She ushered them to their seats.

2. to attend or bring at the coming or beginning; precede or herald (usually followed byin ).

   to usher in the new theater season.

verb (used without object)

• ushers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• ushered,
  past participle,  past
• ushering
  present participle

1. to act as an usher.

   He ushered at the banquet.

Usher ² American  

[uhsh-er] / ˈʌʃ ər /

noun

1. James. Ussher, James.

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usher ¹ British  

/ ˈʌʃə /

noun

1. an official who shows people to their seats, as in a church or theatre

2. a person who acts as doorkeeper, esp in a court of law

3. (in England) a minor official charged with maintaining order in a court of law

4. an officer responsible for preceding persons of rank in a procession or introducing strangers at formal functions

5. obsolete a teacher

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verb

1. to conduct or escort, esp in a courteous or obsequious way

2. (usually foll by in) to be a precursor or herald (of)

Usher ² British  

/ ˈʌʃə /

noun

1. a variant spelling of (James) Ussher

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underusher
  noun
• ushership
  noun
• unushered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ushers
  plural

Participles

• ushering
  present
• ushered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• usher
  simple
• ushers
  simple
• have ushered
  perfect
• has ushered
  perfect
• am ushering
  progressive
• are ushering
  progressive
• is ushering
  progressive
• have been ushering
  perfect progressive
• has been ushering
  perfect progressive

Past

• ushered
  simple
• had ushered
  perfect
• was ushering
  progressive
• were ushering
  progressive
• had been ushering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will usher
  simple
• will have ushered
  perfect
• will be ushering
  progressive
• will have been ushering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of usher

1350–1400; Middle English uscher doorkeeper < Anglo-French usser, Old French ( h ) uissier doorman, officer of justice < Vulgar Latin *ustiārius, equivalent to Latin ōsti ( um ) door + -ārius -ary; see -er ²

Explanation

That guy who guided you to your seat? He's called an usher. You most often see ushers at movie theaters and weddings. An usher is someone with the job of helping people find their seats. At the movies, ushers take your tickets and tell you where to go. At some theaters and sports venues, the ushers might actually take you to your seat — they usher you there. If you're an usher in a wedding party, it's your job to walk guests down the aisle and to their seats. The doorkeeper at a courtroom or legislative chamber is called an usher, too.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

usher Usher ushers ushered ushering

Sutskever, a famed researcher whose breakthroughs helped usher in the AI revolution, co-founded Safe Superintelligence in 2024.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Infantino sprinted across the stage and appeared to attempt to usher Trump out of frame.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026

Bradley has just been taking part in an ambush exercise, where he and his team are instructed to rescue a hostage in a forest and usher her to safety while fending off armed enemies.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

Over a century ago, when the Supreme Court helped usher in Jim Crow, Justice John Marshall Harlan took his colleagues to task for betraying the promise of Reconstruction.

From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026

“It’s time to usher in a new era!”

From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya

Brown is currently performing with Usher on their joint North American stadium tour.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

Brown is performing with Usher on their joint North American stadium tour.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Karen Usher was 21 when she joined the Royal Air Force in 1990, and says years of feeling forced to hide her sexuality left her suffering a "mini-breakdown" while deployed in Italy.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

Usher is one of more than 1,500 veterans who have applied for financial reparations from the Ministry of Defence as part of a scheme launched in 2024 to make amends for their suffering.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

Without the title of Deadwood Usher, without the cottage and cloak and mushroom garden, what was left of him?

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

It was a blur of champagne, full sized In-N-Out cheeseburgers, chic ushers wearing Dior uniforms with snug grey sweaters and slacks that pooled perfectly at the leg.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026

The tiny white and pink petals of cherry flowers, known as sakura, herald the start of spring in Japan, and full bloom ushers in a brief period of boisterous outdoor parties held by residents.

From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026

The new year ushers in bigger paychecks for many workers — but those wage increases may not feel so impressive as prices also increase.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 6, 2026

The director, Taibi Magar, keeps the show moving fluidly on a set by Matt Saunders featuring a turntable and a pixelated backdrop that effectively ushers us between moods.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 31, 2025

Once it’s offering time, the deacons stand at the front of the church asking the congregation to rise and follow the ushers from the rear.

From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson

Any who lingered too long on the coastal path were immediately ushered back out by the soldiers.

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

The Jim Crow Era ushered in a new kind of slavery but eventually galvanized Congress to establish some of its most impactful legislation, in the VRA and the Civil Rights Act.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

Fifty years ago, the pop-punk sound “Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers” ushered in proved that opposites could attract—with the right mix.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

Oddly, the fire ushered in a new era for Dan Tana’s — a rebirth, even.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

It was as if he, like the wandering souls he ushered, had traveled into the glowing embrace of the Afterlife.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

He’s uniquely responsible for ushering in an age of barbarism and will spend the rest of his life making amends in the fallen world he helped create.

From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026

Now he has been ejected from power by his own party and instead of ushering in a "decade of national renewal," as he had promised, he is contemplating a return to the back benches.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

App makers are anticipating new tools to allow Siri to open up their apps and complete tasks, ushering iPhone users into the era of “agentic” AI, where smart assistants take actions for them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026

Sweltering weather will descend on much of California over the next few days, possibly ushering in temperatures deeper into the triple digits earlier than ever for some areas.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026

“It’s okay,” he said, but I could feel him pushing my back as we passed the boy, ushering Maribel and me into the gas station with a certain urgency.

From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez

Related Words

• escort
• initiate
• precede
• steer