arrive
verb (used without object)
to come to a certain point in the course of travel; reach one's destination.
arrive
1 American
[uh-rahyv]
/ əˈraɪv /
verb (used without object)
-
arrives,
present (3rd person singular)
-
arrived,
past participle, past
-
arriving
present participle
-
to come to a certain point in the course of travel; reach one's destination.
He finally arrived in Rome.
-
to come to be near or present in time.
The moment to act has arrived.
-
to attain a position of success, power, achievement, fame, or the like.
After years of hard work, she has finally arrived in her field.
-
Archaic. to happen.
It arrived that the master had already departed.
verb (used with object)
-
arrives,
present (3rd person singular)
-
arrived,
past participle, past
-
arriving
present participle
verb phrase
arrivé
2
American
[ar-ee-vay, a -r ee-vay]
/ ˌær iˈveɪ, a riˈveɪ /
noun
-
arrivés
plural
arrive
British
/ əˈraɪv /
verb
-
to come to a certain place during or after a journey; reach a destination
-
(foll by at) to agree upon; reach
to arrive at a decision
-
to occur eventually
the moment arrived when pretence was useless
-
informal (of a baby) to be born
-
informal to attain success or gain recognition
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
arrivesimple
-
arrivessimple
-
have arrivedperfect
-
has arrivedperfect
-
am arrivingprogressive
-
are arrivingprogressive
-
is arrivingprogressive
-
have been arrivingperfect progressive
-
has been arrivingperfect progressive
Past
-
arrivedsimple
-
had arrivedperfect
-
was arrivingprogressive
-
were arrivingprogressive
-
had been arrivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of arrive1
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English a(r)riven, from Old French a(r)river, from Vulgar Latin arrīpāre (unrecorded) “to come to land,” verb derivative of Latin ad rīpam “to the riverbank”; cf. river 1
Origin of arrivé2
First recorded in 1920–25; from French: literally, “arrived,” noun use of past participle of arriver “to arrive”; see arrive
Explanation
To arrive is to come to a destination. When you arrive in Paris, the first thing you should do is go and buy a croissant. The word arrive generally means to come to a physical destination, like a place. Make sure you arrive home on time for dinner! But it can also be less literal. You can arrive at a conclusion or a decision after much thought. You can also use arrive to mean "achieve great success," though for whatever reason, this specific usage tends to be in the past tense. If you serve champagne and caviar at a party, your snobby aunt might comment, "My dear, you’ve arrived!” In this case, arrive means to come to a place of great wealth or success.
Vocabulary lists containing arrive
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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:
As Israeli forces arrive, the standoff explodes into action.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
How did you arrive at that turn for him?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Jack Clark, cofounder of Anthropic, said in his newsletter this week that full recursive self-improvement will likely arrive in 2027, not 2028.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
"People don't need to worry because the fuel is available," he added, noting more fuel shipments are expected to arrive within this week.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
But that day seems not to want to arrive, and the journey has begun to take its toll on all of us.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
He will arrivé back here to-night tired as a dog, but once more at daybreak it will be Dominique who sets forth to carry the wounded man up to Fort Amitié.
From Fort Amity by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
As I gently closed the door of the ward and stole out into the corridor on tip-toe, I heard again the martial chorus swelling into a tumult of joy: Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
From Leaves from a Field Note-Book by John Hartman Morgan
The first two verses of this new version will suffice to show its character: Allons, enfant de la patrie, La jour de gloire est arrivé.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. October, 1878. by Various
However deep his ignorance, it could not possibly be more finished than mine some dozen years ago; and yet I may say, Je suis arrivé!
From About Orchids A Chat by Frederick Boyle
Once in a year, however, I as the French say, doesn't make a custom, and the Parisian crowd, to quote its own expression, "croit que c'est arrivé."
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 26, September, 1880 by Various
Meanwhile the leading men of the guilds had become hommes arrivés.
From German Culture Past and Present by Ernest Belfort Bax
"If the connection arrives in time, the energy centre will not be needed at all," it said.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Persistently high energy costs, especially as winter arrives in the Northern Hemisphere, could concentrate growth in an even smaller number of countries, it said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Mayli Villalobos, a 34-year-old soprano and nurse, arrives at the practice after a 12-hour hospital shift.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
That depends not only on what medicine can do after disease arrives but also on how early we see it coming, and what we do to keep ourselves safe once we know.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
When morning finally arrives, I put my sketchpad in my backpack and hurry through breakfast.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
In about half of the years since 2015, the first storm arrived after 1 November.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
When rescue crews arrived, no boat was in the area and more than a dozen people were in the water, said U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
When a replacement finally arrived halfway through the year, he was an English teacher.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The battle’s latest high-noon moment arrived this year with the expiration of a 2007 low-water allocation contract.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
One morning after a hard night’s rain we arrived to find the ground sodden and heavy.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
But arriving at the future of autonomous robot helpers will require more data, smarter AI models and better hardware.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
There’s a clip of Zuckerberg arriving at the Cheeky Pint with an authentic keg of Guinness straight from Dublin, a baller move that signals familiarity with Collison’s program and, presumably, what’s inside the barrel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
"Teachers are undoubtedly reporting that children are arriving in school with much broader, wider ranging needs but I think we need to be really careful that we're not just jumping to blaming parents."
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and two other leaders were detained before they could disembark from their flight, after arriving in the capital from Mumbai.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
While she was certain the Tome of Ushers said nothing about a heavily decorated pigeon arriving in Deadwood, the bird seemed to know something Gingersnipes did not.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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