jaunt
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
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.
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
A wild black bear took a jaunt around a Northern California zoo and was spotted visiting its bear neighbors.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 26, 2025
The serenity of the real world feels jarring after my jaunt in the Dark World.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
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.
