a person who escorts people to seats in a theater, church, etc.
a person acting as an official doorkeeper, as in a courtroom or legislative chamber.
a male attendant of a bridegroom at a wedding.
an officer whose business it is to introduce strangers or to walk before a person of rank.
British Archaic. a subordinate teacher or an assistant in a school.
to act as an usher to; lead, introduce, or conduct.
She ushered them to their seats.
to attend or bring at the coming or beginning; precede or herald (usually followed byin ).
to usher in the new theater season.
an official who shows people to their seats, as in a church or theatre
a person who acts as doorkeeper, esp in a court of law
(in England) a minor official charged with maintaining order in a court of law
an officer responsible for preceding persons of rank in a procession or introducing strangers at formal functions
obsolete a teacher
to conduct or escort, esp in a courteous or obsequious way
(usually foll by in) to be a precursor or herald (of)
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
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
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
"My crush is on you, Ellie," screams one fan, as dreamy synths usher in the anthemic chorus: "Me and you were meant to be in loooove!"
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
The Fixers, as they’re called, usher in what many refer to as the Golden Age of Humanity.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
Brown is currently performing with Usher on their joint North American stadium tour.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Usher says the non-financial measures have helped rebuild her pride in her service.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Mane is an Atlanta-based artist who has collaborated with Usher, Doja Cat, Drake and other stars.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026
The Brookmans’ holiday home goes from being a pretty cottage to a “ghastly pile” to “the sort of grim, four-square, red-brick Victorian house you could imagine Roderick Usher living in.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
He was still technically the Usher of Deadwood.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Mextly Couzin’s lighting ushers in old-fashioned Broadway pizzazz when needed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 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
“Raiders” also ushers in an era of box-office action movies with financially successful sequels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
If a new chair ushers in an era of turbulence, Deutsche thinks this could be extremely disruptive.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 9, 2025
Corporal Reynolds looks around before he points me to a side door, which he quickly opens and then ushers me through.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
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
Read: SpaceX ushered in a ‘new era’ for investing in space.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
On 18 March 2024, Putin claimed a landslide victory which ushered in a fifth term in office.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
He took the extra time to brush his teeth and comb his hair, before putting on his blue jumpsuit and getting ushered into a van in handcuffs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
We waited in line until we were ushered into one of the glass-enclosed cabins, each wide enough to hold sixty people.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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
The video shows officers placing handcuffs on people, ushering them into cars and then placing them into detention centres.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
At the same time, SpaceX in 2015 successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket, ushering in the age of partially reusable rockets.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 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
“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
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.
