visit
Americanverb (used with object)
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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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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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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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revisitverb
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unvisitingadjective
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unvisitedadjective
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previsitnoun
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intervisitverb (used without object)
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nonvisitingadjective
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visitableadjective
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has visitedperfect 3rd person singular
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have visitedperfect
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have been visitingperfect progressive
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am visitingprogressive 1st person singular
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are visitingprogressive
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has been visitingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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visitssingular 3rd person
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is visitingprogressive 3rd person singular
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visitingparticiple
Past
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had visitedperfect
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was visitingprogressive singular
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visitedsimple
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visitedparticiple
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were visitingprogressive plural
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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.
After his first visit to the Great Park, however, he said he stopped looking and in March, the team announced it would train in Irvine.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
After their private meeting, Zelensky thanked the UK for its "ironclad" support and revealed he planned to invite the King for a state visit to Ukraine in the future.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
South Korea should not give up on North Korea's denuclearisation, President Lee Jae Myung said Monday, as China's President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang for a two-day visit.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, who speaks for the regime, said ahead of Xi’s visit that North Korea’s status as a nuclear state is “a stark reality whether anyone recognizes it or not.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
While in the city, Maggie did not regularly work as a medium, but she did visit her mother and Kate.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
