arrival
Americannoun
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the act or time of arriving
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a person or thing that arrives or has arrived
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the reaching of a condition or objective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of arrival
1350–1400; arrive + -al 2; replacing Middle English arivaille < Middle French
Explanation
An arrival is an entrance or an appearance — the act of showing up somewhere. Your arrival at your grandparents' house will no doubt be marked by great enthusiasm and many hugs. The process of arriving, or first getting to your destination, is arrival. Your sister's arrival at the airport might be delayed by bad weather, and your new kitten's arrival will be an exciting event for your whole family. Another kind of arrival is a person who's just arrived: "I easily picked her out from all the bus station arrivals."
Vocabulary lists containing arrival
List 3
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -al, -ial
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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.
See Examples For:
The passenger’s full route can be found here, though officials noted the departure and arrival times are estimates, as they reflect train and bus schedules.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Rosemary Winnall, from the Wyre Forest Study Group, which maps the wildlife and ecology of the forest in Worcestershire, said the arrival of the wasp spider was to be celebrated.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Government officials said Smart’s debut was always planned to be limited before validating the software and expanding its capabilities, such as spacing out arrival times and planning routes days in advance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Camilo Duran has been the standout summer recruit so far with six goals and three assists in 10 appearances, while record signing Kasper Hogh and fellow big-money arrival Haissem Hassan are yet to fully settle.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
That changed with the arrival of Spanish ships in March 1521.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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She said the group was always on the lookout for new arrivals and had already recorded the willow emerald damselfly, the southern oak bush cricket and the purple emperor butterfly, as more species travelled north.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Students are the largest group of arrivals, with 753,000 international students in Australia, most from China and India, data shows.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Of the 3,028 flight arrivals scheduled at U.K. airports on Thursday, 54 have been canceled or aren’t operating, according to Cirium.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
It said 54 of 3,028 scheduled arrivals had been cancelled or are not operating, while for departures, 47 of 3,033 scheduled flights were affected.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
We come out in the rebel encampment, a ten-block stretch outside the train station where Peeta and I made our previous arrivals.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
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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.