jaunt
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
jauntsimple
-
jauntssimple
-
have jauntedperfect
-
has jauntedperfect
-
am jauntingprogressive
-
are jauntingprogressive
-
is jauntingprogressive
-
have been jauntingperfect progressive
-
has been jauntingperfect progressive
Past
-
jauntedsimple
-
had jauntedperfect
-
was jauntingprogressive
-
were jauntingprogressive
-
had been jauntingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jaunt
First recorded in 1560–70; origin uncertain
Explanation
Running out to get pizza to bring back before the big game? This short, quick, pleasurable trip could be called a jaunt (unless of course, you get your pizza from Italy, that’s called “time to get a closer pizza place”). Jaunt was used in the 17th century to describe a journey on a horse just long enough to tire the horse out. Nebraska has what they call a Junk Jaunt, which is a yard sale that includes up to 40 towns and stretches nearly 300 miles and draws up to 20,000 people. That’s more than enough to make any horse tired, but they call it a jaunt nevertheless.
Vocabulary lists containing jaunt
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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"The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "J," "K," and "L"
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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:
Last fall I walked from the northern tip of Manhattan to Battery Park, a jaunt that was tiring but doable in about six hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Meanwhile, songs like “Down South” brim with nostalgia for days gone by — in this instance, memories of a hitchhiking jaunt with Harrison.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
The astronauts on the International Space Station receive a dose of around 240 to 480 X-rays on a six-month jaunt up in the exosphere.
From Slate ● Mar. 1, 2026
And would Uefa turn a blind eye to a stadium return after such a long jaunt?
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025
After this pleasant jaunt I meant to go through Golden Valley, drawn by its name.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
On those same New York jaunts, the battery range exceeded my expectations, largely set by my Mustang Mach-E.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
He had taken a trip this month to Switzerland, his favoured destination for overseas jaunts, fuelling fresh speculation over the state of his health.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2025
Blue Origin’s accomplishments to date are modest — a small vehicle known as New Shepard that takes space tourists and experiments on brief suborbital jaunts.
From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
Coastal jaunts, low-elevation forest walks and the Olympic Peninsula are still accessible, so Washingtonians can keep active during the dark winter months.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 6, 2023
She spoke of how her children had been raised in the lap of luxury—annual ski trips, jaunts off to Europe.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
As he jaunted to the mound for the fourth, the crowd woke up, rising in volume; but not for Kochanowicz.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2025
One model jaunted down the runway in a ruffle-lined hot-pink tweed jacket, another in a matching skirt.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 27, 2023
As if to underline the need for joy, a reggae dancer jaunted down center stage to close the show.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 18, 2022
Last week, he jaunted to Tallahassee, The Villages and Tampa with Dr. Scott Atlas, President Trump’s controversial new coronavirus adviser.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 9, 2020
He jaunted about through France and Italy, picked up acquaintances everywhere, and was evidently much more interested in the people he met than in the "doing" of buildings or galleries.
From Washington Irving by Boynton, Henry Walcott
Buzan is particularly good at teasing out Linda’s vivacity and frustration, jaunting around in costume designer Ivania Stack’s gorgeous flapper dresses and speaking with snark and tamped-down despair.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 17, 2022
There have been glimmers of cultural relevance: For instance, O’Brien made news in March by jaunting to Havana for a special Conan in Cuba.
From Slate ● May 10, 2015
I seriously imagined me and the dress and the man and the balcony, but, no, there has been no such Italy jaunting.
From US News ● Dec. 28, 2012
Bram Whillock, 28, has been jaunting around the world’s premier rock-climbing locations.
From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2011
It seemed a forlorn thing to leave him there alone in the rain while she went jaunting off to Italy.
From The Pastor's Wife by Arnim, Elizabeth von
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.
