visit
Americanverb (used with object)
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visits,
present (3rd person singular)
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visited,
past participle, past
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visiting
present participle
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to go to and stay with (a person or family) or at (a place) for a short time for reasons of sociability, politeness, business, curiosity, etc..
to visit a friend; to visit clients; to visit Paris.
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to stay with as a guest.
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to come or go to.
to visit a church for prayer.
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to go to for the purpose of official inspection or examination.
a general visiting his troops.
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to come to in order to comfort or aid.
to visit the sick.
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to come upon; assail; afflict.
The plague visited London in 1665.
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to cause trouble, suffering, etc., to come to.
to visit him with sorrows.
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to access, as a website.
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to inflict, as punishment, vengeance, etc. (often followed by on orupon ).
verb (used without object)
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visits,
present (3rd person singular)
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visited,
past participle, past
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visiting
present participle
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to make a visit.
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to talk or chat casually.
to visit on the phone with a friend.
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to inflict punishment.
noun
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visits
plural
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the act of or an instance of visiting.
a nice, long visit.
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a chat or talk.
We had a good visit on the way back from the grocery store.
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a call paid to a person, family, etc.
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a stay or sojourn as a guest.
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an official inspection or examination.
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the act of an officer of a belligerent nation in boarding a vessel in order to ascertain the nature of its cargo, its nationality, etc..
the right of visit and search.
verb
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to go or come to see (a person, place, etc)
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to stay with (someone) as a guest
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to go or come to (an institution, place, etc) for the purpose of inspecting or examining
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(tr) (of a disease, disaster, etc) to assail; afflict
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(tr; foll by upon or on) to inflict (punishment, etc)
the judge visited his full anger upon the defendant
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archaic to afflict or plague (with punishment, etc)
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informal (often foll by with) to chat or converse (with someone)
noun
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the act or an instance of visiting
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a stay as a guest
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a professional or official call
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a formal call for the purpose of inspection or examination
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international law the right of an officer of a belligerent state to stop and search neutral ships in war to verify their nationality and ascertain whether they carry contraband
the right of visit and search
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informal a friendly talk or chat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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previsitnoun
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revisitverb
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intervisitverb (used without object)
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nonvisitingadjective
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unvisitedadjective
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unvisitingadjective
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visitableadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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visitsimple
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visitssimple
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have visitedperfect
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has visitedperfect
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am visitingprogressive
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are visitingprogressive
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is visitingprogressive
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have been visitingperfect progressive
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has been visitingperfect progressive
Past
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visitedsimple
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had visitedperfect
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was visitingprogressive
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were visitingprogressive
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had been visitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of visit
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English visiten (verb), from Old French visiter, from Latin vīsitāre “to see repeatedly,” from vīsere “to go to see,” from vidēre “to see”; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
When you travel to another place, or spend some time at a friend's house, it's a visit. You should visit your grandmother! It's been a while since she's had a visit from you. Whenever you spend a temporary amount of time with another person or in another place, that's a visit — whether it's your visit to San Francisco or your visit to the doctor for a checkup. In some parts of the U.S., visit is also a name for a chat: "I had a nice visit with your Aunt Sylvia yesterday." And if you pay a visit to someone, you go see them for a while.
Vocabulary lists containing visit
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:
On other occasions, progress was measured in single digits: two people during one visit, five on another, eight on the next.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
During my most recent visit, the menu featured 18 different North American oysters from as far north as Canada and as far south as Georgia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
She has had family over to visit and has created a list of things to do in London with best friend and team-mate Fernandez.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
“Chinese civilization is both mysterious and incredible,” said Fang Qing, a 33-year-old real-estate professional from Changsha, who posed for pictures with an oversize Sanxingdui plushie during a visit to the site last month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Tonight’s visit to Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-In would go down with nothing but unmet expectations.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Over the past 18 months, MSF stopped regular visits to about 80 villages near the front where they had provided health services, says Meldrum.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
“It’s not like these are people getting routine visits for mildly high blood pressure — these are people who require hospitalizations.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data tracking ER visits for tick bites, which are the highest on record in almost every U.S. region since 2017.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
The two men regularly spent time alone during official visits to the White House, according to a person familiar with their meetings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
His record came with a long list of hospital visits and wild stories, and no one seemed to want a little boy who didn’t follow the rules.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
His new wife is Aisha Auwal - the couple met as she regularly visited his shop to buy clothes.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
As an American living in Switzerland, the first time I visited Greenville, S.C., in the spring of 2024, I was charmed by its neatly packaged dose of Americana.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
When I visited Piker’s Twitch profile on election night, I wasn’t surprised to find him broadcasting live from El-Sayed’s reception.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026
Authorities are trying unlock the mystery of a Downey security guard accused of weapons violations after he twice visited the Trump National Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes in advance of this week’s presidential visit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Some days he visited three times a day.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Moments later, a military quadcopter flew in and hovered directly above Ahmed and a visiting reporter as they stood near the eggplant field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Nick Lonj, who is visiting Los Angeles from Oundle, England, is staying at the nearby Godfrey Hotel in Hollywood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
"Even to the point that she could sometimes forget about herself because she would spend so much time giving to people, visiting people and supporting people."
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Two universities denied Arday’s claims that he was a visiting professor, and his claims about charity fundraising and running were questioned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
I’ve been visiting him long enough to know that it’s not real.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
