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Synonyms

arrival

American  
[uh-rahy-vuhl] / əˈraɪ vəl /

noun

  • arrivals
    plural
  1. an act of arriving; a coming.

    His arrival was delayed by traffic.

    Synonyms:
    advent
  2. the reaching or attainment of any object or condition.

    arrival at a peace treaty.

  3. the person or thing that arrives or has arrived.

    First arrivals will be the first seated.


arrival British  
/ əˈraɪvəl /

noun

  1. the act or time of arriving

  2. a person or thing that arrives or has arrived

  3. the reaching of a condition or objective

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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."

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Vocabulary lists containing arrival

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

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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