guest
noun
a person who spends some time at another person's home in some social activity, as a visit, dinner, or party.
guest
1 American
[gest]
/ gɛst /
noun
-
guests
plural
-
a person who spends some time at another person's home in some social activity, as a visit, dinner, or party.
- Synonyms:
- company
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a person who receives the hospitality of a club, a city, or the like.
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a person who patronizes a hotel, restaurant, etc., for the lodging, food, or entertainment it provides.
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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.
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Zoology. an inquiline.
verb (used with object)
-
guests,
present (3rd person singular)
-
guested,
past participle, past
-
guesting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
guests,
present (3rd person singular)
-
guested,
past participle, past
-
guesting
present participle
adjective
-
provided for or done by a guest.
a guest towel; a guest column for a newspaper.
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participating or performing as a guest.
a guest conductor.
Guest
2
American
[gest]
/ gɛst /
noun
guest
British
/ ɡɛst /
noun
-
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
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( as modifier )
the guest room
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-
-
a person who receives the hospitality of a government, establishment, or organization
-
( as modifier )
a guest speaker
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-
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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
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-
a patron of a hotel, boarding house, restaurant, etc
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zoology a nontechnical name for inquiline
-
informal do as you like
verb
guest
Idioms
Synonym Usage
See visitor.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
guestsimple
-
guestssimple
-
have guestedperfect
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has guestedperfect
-
am guestingprogressive
-
are guestingprogressive
-
is guestingprogressive
-
have been guestingperfect progressive
-
has been guestingperfect progressive
Past
-
guestedsimple
-
had guestedperfect
-
was guestingprogressive
-
were guestingprogressive
-
had been guestingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of guest
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
Explanation
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."
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:
Yet something told him to say yes when the creators of the sitcom “Taxi” wanted him to do a guest shot as a wedding officiant during the show’s first season in 1978.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
A new football anthem for Wycombe Wanderers, courtesy of the unlikely figures of Irish chart-toppers Kingfishr, whose singer was the special guest under the Tuesday night lights of the club's Adams Park stadium this week.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
In 2025, Reynolds made a guest appearance on the first season of Netflix’s “Ransom Canyon,” which starred Kelly as Quinn O’Grady, a former concert pianist, opposite Josh Duhamel, who played rancher Staten Kirkland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Hospitality has always had scaffolding beneath it; ideally, the guest simply doesn’t spend much time looking at it.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
It seemed we had slept the day away and nighttime had descended upon the spacious house like an unexpected guest.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
Guest: Sherry Turkle, licensed clinical psychologist and the founding director of MIT’s Initiative on Technology and Self.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2026
Still, Foley, whose provocative reads include “The Guest List” and “The Paris Apartment,” had to follow ground rules for the conservative Miss Marple: The character couldn’t be young.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Guest: Soraya Nadia McDonald, cultural critic and writer.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2026
"He almost lived in a bubble and this online community reinforced his views," Guest told the court.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Across the godswood, beneath the windows of the Guest House, an underground hot spring fed three small ponds.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Without it, he said, guests at the rustic resort Pori is planning would have to drive about 45 minutes along winding dirt roads to reach the park’s main entrance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
"What passes sometimes leaves more light than what remains," he wrote enigmatically in a message for guests at the Spring-Summer 2027 show in front of the Eiffel Tower.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Even more lounge spaces exist in the lower level of the home, including a den that’s ready to be enjoyed by guests of all ages.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Archer's parties were known for serving champagne and shepherd's pie to guests.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
“Assembled guests, good evening. I am Baroness Hoover. At the request of our chairman, Judge Quinzy, I have been asked to report on the operations of the school.”
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Gorsuch spoke at the presidential libraries of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and guested on Firing Line, a PBS opinion show hosted by the conservative commentator Margaret Hoover.
From Slate ● Oct. 4, 2024
"Richard Belzer was one of the most kindest and welcoming actors when I guested on two episodes of Law and Order: SVU," tweeted Marlee Matlin.
From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2023
London has frequently collaborated with the artist now known as Ye, who produced and guested on 2014′s “Vibes.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 4, 2023
Atria’s other works on the program hit with a similar specificity, including the driving “Bootstrap Bernie”; and Soper guested with the group, too, lending crisply beaming vocals to the piece “En Tornasol.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2022
Sansa remembered Lord Yohn Royce, who had guested at Winterfell two years before.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
She reminded the men that the panel they were guesting on had nothing to do with foreign policy.
From Slate ● Nov. 19, 2025
They also appeared regularly on television, making specials and guesting on various shows.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 7, 2024
“My day was always better for having passed through the Earwolf studios, whether it’s hosting or guesting, whatever.”
From The Verge ● Mar. 22, 2022
Before Run the Jewels, Killer Mike was a satellite member of Outkast’s Dungeon Family collective, guesting on other people’s hits and releasing a few near-hits of his own.
From New York Times ● May 26, 2020
And since his own lord had exiled him and his story went before him, none would take him in, but after the three days’ guesting all sent him from their doors as an outlaw.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
