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• carrier
  carrier

  noun

  a person or thing that carries.
• Carrier
  Carrier

  noun

  a member of an Athapaskan Native North American people of British Columbia

carrier

American  

[kar-ee-er] / ˈkær i ər /

noun

• carriers
  plural

1. a person or thing that carries.

2. an employee of the post office who carries mail.

3. a person who delivers newspapers, magazines, etc., on a particular route.

4. Transportation.

   1. an individual or company, as a railroad or steamship line, engaged in transporting passengers or goods for profit.

   2. common carrier.

5. Insurance. a company that acts or functions as an underwriter or insurer.

6. a frame, usually of metal, attached to a vehicle for carrying skis, luggage, etc., as on top of an automobile or station wagon; rack.

7. aircraft carrier.

8. Immunology. an individual harboring specific pathogenic organisms who, though often immune to the agent harbored, may transmit the disease to others.

9. Genetics.

   1. an individual possessing an unexpressed, recessive trait.

   2. the bearer of a defective gene.

10. Also called carrier wave. Radio. the wave whose amplitude, frequency, or phase is to be varied or modulated to transmit a signal.

11. Machinery. a mechanism by which something is carried or moved.

12. Chemistry. a catalytic agent that brings about a transfer of an element or group of atoms from one compound to another.

13. Also called charge carrier. Physics. any of the mobile electrons or holes in a metal or semiconductor that enable it to conduct electrical charge.

14. Physical Chemistry. a usually inactive substance that acts as a vehicle for an active substance.

15. carrier pigeon.

16. Painting. base.

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Carrier ¹ British  

/ ˈkærɪə /

noun

1. a member of an Athapaskan Native North American people of British Columbia

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carrier ² British  

/ ˈkærɪə /

noun

1. a person, thing, or organization employed to carry goods, passengers, etc

2. a mechanism by which something is carried or moved, such as a device for transmitting rotation from the faceplate of a lathe to the workpiece

3. pathol another name for vector

4. pathol a person or animal that, without having any symptoms of a disease, is capable of transmitting it to others

5. Also called: charge carrier. physics an electron, ion, or hole that carries the charge in a conductor or semiconductor

6. short for carrier wave

7. chem

   1. the inert solid on which a dyestuff is adsorbed in forming a lake

   2. a substance, such as kieselguhr or asbestos, used to support a catalyst

   3. an inactive substance containing a radioisotope used in radioactive tracing

   4. an inert gas used to transport the sample through a gas-chromatography column

   5. a catalyst that effects the transfer of an atom or group from one molecule to another

8. See aircraft carrier

9. a breed of domestic fancy pigeon having a large walnut-shaped wattle over the beak; a distinct variety of pigeon from the homing or carrier pigeon See also carrier pigeon

10. a US name for roof rack

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carrier Scientific  

/ kăr′ē-ər /

1. A person, animal, or plant that serves as a host for a pathogen and can transmit it to others, but is immune to it. Mosquitoes are carriers of malaria.

2. An organism that carries a gene for a trait but does not show the trait itself. Carriers can produce offspring that express the trait by mating with another carrier of the same gene.

3. See more at recessive

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intercarrier
  noun
• noncarrier
  noun
• supercarrier
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• carriers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of carrier

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at carry, -er ¹

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Explanation

In medicine, a person is a carrier if they test positive for a pathogen or a genetic defect without showing any symptoms. This person can unwittingly spread the illness to others without ever knowing he or she is the source. If your job involves carrying things or people, you work as a carrier. If you deliver newspapers, you are a newspaper carrier. If the job is to transport household items or people, your business is as a common carrier, such as a moving company or an airline. But if you deliver aircraft, you are not an aircraft carrier — that would be a large, flat-decked, military ship where planes can land or take off at sea.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

carrier Carrier carriers

In March, French newspaper Le Monde was able to locate the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in almost real time in the eastern Mediterranean, thanks to a sailor on board using the app.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026

The Navy is helping to patrol Nato's northern flank, with this year's carrier strike group deploying to the Arctic and the high north.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

The two companies in April said they submitted nonbinding offers for TAP, after the Portuguese government said last summer that it planned to sell a 49.9% stake in the carrier.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

Last week, SpaceX announced announced a deal to purchase roughly $8 billion worth of mobile wireless spectrum, a sign that the company is getting serious about becoming a major mobile carrier.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

Neil had gotten into her cat carrier believing she would eventually return to our apartment, and that tore me up.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

Carrier forces were diverted from the Pacific to the Gulf, including the USS Abraham Lincoln and later the Japan-based USS George Washington.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

The UK's Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed off Iceland under Nato command, with 1,500 British personnel on board.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

Carrier Qantas in 2022 said it would order new aircraft from Airbus that would be able to make ultra-long-haul, nonstop flights between Australian cities and London and New York.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026

"Welcome to the Caribbean, Nimitz Carrier Strike Group!" the Southern Command posted on X, alongside a video flaunting the ship's capabilities.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

The air-conditioning is by Carrier, and even the bottled water is by Coke.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

“We’re watching the wind. I’m getting my cat carriers ready just in case,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

However, Potter pointed to one silver lining for AST SpaceMobile: SpaceX’s mobile-carrier ambitions could actually increase demand from traditional wireless carriers for AST’s services.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

It reports that persistently high fuel prices are forcing carriers to cut flights, axe costs and delay payments on leased aircraft.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

To meet this need, the military would probably perfect small modular reactors, just as they did long ago with nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

There aren’t any letter carriers, pretty girls, old men, people with handbags, babies in strollers, or any of the other things Rootbeer usually barks at.

From "Invisible Inkling" by Emily Jenkins

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Related Words

• aircraft carrier
• warship

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