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• carrier
  carrier

  noun

  a person or thing that carries.
• Carrier
  Carrier

  noun

  a member of an Athapaskan Native North American people of British Columbia

carrier

American  

[kar-ee-er] / ˈkær i ər /

noun

• carriers
  plural

1. a person or thing that carries.

2. an employee of the post office who carries mail.

3. a person who delivers newspapers, magazines, etc., on a particular route.

4. Transportation.

   1. an individual or company, as a railroad or steamship line, engaged in transporting passengers or goods for profit.

   2. common carrier.

5. Insurance. a company that acts or functions as an underwriter or insurer.

6. a frame, usually of metal, attached to a vehicle for carrying skis, luggage, etc., as on top of an automobile or station wagon; rack.

7. aircraft carrier.

8. Immunology. an individual harboring specific pathogenic organisms who, though often immune to the agent harbored, may transmit the disease to others.

9. Genetics.

   1. an individual possessing an unexpressed, recessive trait.

   2. the bearer of a defective gene.

10. Also called carrier wave. Radio. the wave whose amplitude, frequency, or phase is to be varied or modulated to transmit a signal.

11. Machinery. a mechanism by which something is carried or moved.

12. Chemistry. a catalytic agent that brings about a transfer of an element or group of atoms from one compound to another.

13. Also called charge carrier. Physics. any of the mobile electrons or holes in a metal or semiconductor that enable it to conduct electrical charge.

14. Physical Chemistry. a usually inactive substance that acts as a vehicle for an active substance.

15. carrier pigeon.

16. Painting. base.

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carrier ¹ British  

/ ˈkærɪə /

noun

1. a person, thing, or organization employed to carry goods, passengers, etc

2. a mechanism by which something is carried or moved, such as a device for transmitting rotation from the faceplate of a lathe to the workpiece

3. pathol another name for vector

4. pathol a person or animal that, without having any symptoms of a disease, is capable of transmitting it to others

5. Also called: charge carrier. physics an electron, ion, or hole that carries the charge in a conductor or semiconductor

6. short for carrier wave

7. chem

   1. the inert solid on which a dyestuff is adsorbed in forming a lake

   2. a substance, such as kieselguhr or asbestos, used to support a catalyst

   3. an inactive substance containing a radioisotope used in radioactive tracing

   4. an inert gas used to transport the sample through a gas-chromatography column

   5. a catalyst that effects the transfer of an atom or group from one molecule to another

8. See aircraft carrier

9. a breed of domestic fancy pigeon having a large walnut-shaped wattle over the beak; a distinct variety of pigeon from the homing or carrier pigeon See also carrier pigeon

10. a US name for roof rack

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Carrier ² British  

/ ˈkærɪə /

noun

1. a member of an Athapaskan Native North American people of British Columbia

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carrier Scientific  

/ kăr′ē-ər /

1. A person, animal, or plant that serves as a host for a pathogen and can transmit it to others, but is immune to it. Mosquitoes are carriers of malaria.

2. An organism that carries a gene for a trait but does not show the trait itself. Carriers can produce offspring that express the trait by mating with another carrier of the same gene.

3. See more at recessive

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intercarrier
  noun
• noncarrier
  noun
• supercarrier
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• carriers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of carrier

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at carry, -er ¹

Explanation

In medicine, a person is a carrier if they test positive for a pathogen or a genetic defect without showing any symptoms. This person can unwittingly spread the illness to others without ever knowing he or she is the source. If your job involves carrying things or people, you work as a carrier. If you deliver newspapers, you are a newspaper carrier. If the job is to transport household items or people, your business is as a common carrier, such as a moving company or an airline. But if you deliver aircraft, you are not an aircraft carrier — that would be a large, flat-decked, military ship where planes can land or take off at sea.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

carrier Carrier carriers

Oman had scrutinized his online habits and decided he showed too much interest in radical ideology to trust as a pilot at state carrier Oman Air, where he worked.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

He traveled to Morocco that summer and tried to get a job with flag carrier Royal Air Maroc.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

The agency did not specify the date of the incident, the vessel's origin or destination, or whether it was an oil tanker or LNG carrier.

From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026

It also reported that the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and its strike group were heading to the Middle East, where they could join two other US carrier strike groups already in the region.

From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026

Neil had gotten into her cat carrier believing she would eventually return to our apartment, and that tore me up.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

Carrier forces were diverted from the Pacific to the Gulf, including the USS Abraham Lincoln and later the Japan-based USS George Washington.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

On Monday, Derek Barrs, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, cited Platinum Plus Truck Driving School in Fresno, which certified 36 drivers who were later cited for English language proficiency violations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026

The UK's Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed off Iceland under Nato command, with 1,500 British personnel on board.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

"Welcome to the Caribbean, Nimitz Carrier Strike Group!" the Southern Command posted on X, alongside a video flaunting the ship's capabilities.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

The air-conditioning is by Carrier, and even the bottled water is by Coke.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

Volare will initially operate six very large crude carriers with a further eight newbuild vessels to come.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Major U.S. carriers including Southwest and United told Boeing they didn’t want new MAX jets loaded with the flawed software, and instead requested an earlier version of it, the Journal reported.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

It was not immediately clear if the new carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, would replace one of the two carriers already in the region.

From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026

Those using leased carriers or independent trucks, which add their own fuel surcharges, are trying to get as close to a truckload as they can or limit smaller orders, she added.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

Epidemics tip because of the extraordinary efforts of a few select carriers.

From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell

Related Words

• aircraft carrier
• warship