passenger
Americannoun
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a person who is traveling in an automobile, bus, train, airplane, or other conveyance, especially one who is not the driver, pilot, or the like.
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a wayfarer; traveler.
noun
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a person travelling in a car, train, boat, etc, not driven by him
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( as modifier )
a passenger seat
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a member of a group or team who is a burden on the others through not participating fully in the work
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of passenger
1300–50; Middle English passager < Middle French, noun use of passag ( i ) er (adj.) passing, temporary; see passage 1, -ier 2; for -n- cf. messenger, harbinger, scavenger, popinjay
Explanation
A passenger is a person who rides in a vehicle. If you grab a ride home from school with your best friend, you are a passenger in her car. Everyone riding in a train, plane, bus, or any other vehicle is a passenger — except the driver, pilot, or crew. A passenger's only job is to ride along. In the fourteenth century, a passenger was simply a "passer-by," from the Old French passagier, "passing, fleeting, or traveling." The first instance of the modern use was recorded in the early 1500s.
Vocabulary lists containing passenger
Greetings, World Traveler! — List 1
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"Return to Titanic" and "Talking with Robert Ballard"
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 10–September 16, 2022
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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.
More people came, he said, and he returned to check on his brother, finding that he had left the BMW and was sitting in his Audi passenger seat.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
After signing a waiver, strapping on a helmet and paying a $30 fee, audience members can ride along in the passenger seat of a professional driver’s drift car.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
Retail sales of passenger cars in May fell 22.1% from a year earlier to 1.51 million units, the China Passenger Car Association said Monday.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
He then went over to Jenkins' vehicle and, seeing the driver's side was very damaged, he went to the passenger side and called for a response, but there was none.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
I think Dad was realizing it, too, because when I got into the passenger seat, he wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into an awkward hug.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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.
