a person who spends some time at another person's home in some social activity, as a visit, dinner, or party.
a person who receives the hospitality of a club, a city, or the like.
a person who patronizes a hotel, restaurant, etc., for the lodging, food, or entertainment it provides.
an often well-known person invited to participate or perform in a regular program, series, etc., as a substitute for a regular member or as a special attraction.
Zoology. an inquiline.
provided for or done by a guest.
a guest towel; a guest column for a newspaper.
participating or performing as a guest.
a guest conductor.
a person who is entertained, taken out to eat, etc, and paid for by another
a person who receives hospitality at the home of another
a weekend guest
( as modifier )
the guest room
a person who receives the hospitality of a government, establishment, or organization
( as modifier )
a guest speaker
an actor, contestant, entertainer, etc, taking part as a visitor in a programme in which there are also regular participants
( as modifier )
a guest appearance
a patron of a hotel, boarding house, restaurant, etc
zoology a nontechnical name for inquiline
informal do as you like
See visitor.
First recorded before 900; Middle English gest, from Old Norse gestr; replacing Old English gi(e)st; cognate with German Gast, Gothic gasts, Latin hostis; host 1, host 2
If you invite a friend to your home, she is your guest. You might announce to your parents that you've invited seven guests for Thanksgiving. Someone who's visiting, or who's been asked to come, is a guest. If your next door neighbor comes over for lunch, she's a guest, and every one of the two hundred people you invite to a wedding is also a guest. You're often referred to as a guest when you stay at a hotel, too. The Old English root of guest is gæst, "a stranger" or "an accidental guest."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His guest, singer-songwriter Sam Tomkins did a little better, with three correct results and no exact scores, for 30 points.
From BBC • May 25, 2026
Or a topic you would love our next guest to weigh in on?
From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2026
But more recently, she’s apparently taken to describing him as her dream guest.
From Salon • May 23, 2026
The program itself emphasized its intentionally homespun format, which featured regular hosts being interviewed by the guest host Colbert.
From Salon • May 23, 2026
If someone showed particular interest in a piece and I needed to move on to another guest, I’d send them over to talk to Mr. Lew—and Ba, once he joined us freshly washed and groomed.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
