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-vey, a -r ee-vey]
/ 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
Beowulf vocabulary
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"The Lotus Seed"
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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:
When students arrive in college, they encounter a vague sense of freedom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The PCE report will arrive later in August.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
With the constituency consisting of rural villages and seaside towns, the last ones should arrive by 23:30.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The first ballot boxes are expected to arrive 10 minutes after the polls close.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
She might arrive in the middle of the night.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
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
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
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 triumphant words shouted out by the men seemed more sorrowful than those of the De profundis: Allons, enfants de la patrie, Le jour de gloire est arrivé.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 12, No. 33, December, 1873 by Various
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
Meanwhile the leading men of the guilds had become hommes arrivés.
From German Culture Past and Present by Ernest Belfort Bax
Once it arrives in the Middle East, it will be the third aircraft carrier in the area.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The set begins with a crackle and a hum on “The Outside,” as if tuning into a faint radio transmission from the other side of the world, and then Ms. Bridgers’s voice arrives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
A platter of summer tomatoes, tuna-belly conserva, shaved onion, and punchy olives arrives where it cannot possibly fit.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
The research arrives as the British Museum prepares to open a major exhibition featuring the Bayeux Tapestry, one of the best-known surviving artifacts connected with the Norman Conquest.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
But the eventual outcome of the flight is the same: after a few seconds, the raven arrives at the tree.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Hunt had travelled from her hometown of Newark, while actors such as Jacob Elordi arrived from Rome fashion week.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
But on Saturday, Báez finally arrived, albeit a little bit later than he expected.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib told AFP Sunday that two water-bombing aircraft had arrived from Sweden, backing up four helicopters -- two Belgian and two Dutch -- already on site.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Anna Ho, an assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University and a coauthor with Perley on the paper, identified the remarkable event soon after its light arrived at Earth.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
And so Betsie and I arrived in Barracks 8 in the small hours of that morning, bringing not only the Bible, but a new knowledge of the power of Him whose story it was.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
The black-and-white striped mosquitoes were first detected in 2013 in California, likely arriving via human travel and cargo transport.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
“An unknown number of agents are constantly arriving in Minnesota without any knowledge of the investigation, the issues already discussed and decided, and the processes they need to follow,” Teirab complained.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
Both he and Nico O'Reilly have shown an impressive ability to contribute to goals in the final third starting at full-back before arriving into the box.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
"A month ago there was nothing here. A rocky mountain, barely any trees, barely any shade. We're arriving now," new resident Reut Baran, 35, told AFP in front of her new home.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
But not long after arriving in Mexico, they were nearly out of money.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
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.
