journey
Americannoun
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journeys
plural
-
a traveling from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time; trip.
a six-day journey across the desert.
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a distance, course, or area traveled or suitable for traveling.
a desert journey.
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a period of travel.
a week's journey.
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passage or progress from one stage to another.
the journey to success.
verb (used without object)
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journeys,
present (3rd person singular)
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journeyed,
past participle, past
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journeying
present participle
noun
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a travelling from one place to another; trip or voyage
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the distance travelled in a journey
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the time taken to make a journey
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verb
Usage
What does journey mean? A journey is a trip, especially one to a faraway place that takes place over a long period of time. The word trip can refer to any instance of traveling from one place to another, no matter how long or short it is. The word journey, though, typically implies a long trip—one that’s at least several hours, and perhaps several months or even years. It also often implies adventure—a journey might even be a quest. A journey may or may not have a planned destination other than whatever lies ahead. The word is also commonly used in a figurative way to liken any lengthy process or progress to such a trip, as in Life is a journey, with many interesting detours. Journey can also be used as a verb meaning to make a long trip, as in We must journey to the land beyond the mountains. Example: My favorite books are about people who make epic journeys around the world.
Synonym Usage
See trip 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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journeysimple
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journeyssimple
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have journeyedperfect
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has journeyedperfect
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am journeyingprogressive
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are journeyingprogressive
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is journeyingprogressive
-
have been journeyingperfect progressive
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has been journeyingperfect progressive
Past
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journeyedsimple
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had journeyedperfect
-
was journeyingprogressive
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were journeyingprogressive
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had been journeyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of journey
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English journee “day,” from Old French, from unattested Vulgar Latin diurnāta “a day's time, day's work, etc.,” equivalent to Latin diurn(us) “daily” + -āta, feminine of -ātus -ate 1; see -ade 1
Explanation
If you're looking for a more refined word to call your latest drive to the beach or trip to the mall, try journey — a noun that describes travel from one place to another. From the Old French journée, meaning a “day’s work or travel,” journey doubles as both noun and verb. The noun simply refers to a voyage; the verb is the act of taking that voyage. So you can journey across the Sahara, or tell friends about your journey across the desert if you make it back alive. Either way, you should always remember that life is a journey, not a destination.
Vocabulary lists containing journey
Michelle Obama's Speech at the 2016 DNC
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Greetings, World Traveler! — List 2
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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:
Many operators now avoid the passage and send ships instead around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope, vastly prolonging the journey between Asia and Europe and driving up fuel costs and emissions.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
Beatrice is going to the University of Manchester to study maths and plans to commute by train, a journey which can take about 50 minutes in total.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Like Homer’s epic, it describes a journey affected by prevailing Mediterranean winds, called here by their local names: Levante, Ponente, Scirocco, Mistral.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
The cargo boat is embarking on a three-and-a-half week journey from Bangkok to California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
“I think my home was over that way. A day’s journey probably.”
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
More recently, golden-years comedies like “Book Club,” “80 for Brady” and way too many movies starring the late Diane Keaton have sent friend groups on journeys that have them reevaluating relationships and life goals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Recent cup winners Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt start their cup journeys against lower league opposition on Friday, while holders Bayern Munich play on September 2.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Today, I’m more interested in the parents, the journeys, sacrifices and terrible fast food breakfasts that got them there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
A 2019 survey of selected cities found that 63% of all journeys were made on foot, making pedestrians the single largest group of road users.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
So journeys through unknown parts of America became my chief war memory, and I think of the first of them as this nighttime trip to Leper’s.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
The woman, a US citizen, journeyed halfway across the globe to reach remote Pitcairn Island after disembarking the cruise ship in Saint Helena, authorities said.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
I’d journeyed 6,500 miles from my home in Nashville, and I was here to win.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
Misley Mandarin, one of the British-Chagossians who journeyed to the territory, said he had come "peacefully, respectfully, and without threat to anyone - simply to stand on our homeland again".
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026
Humans have journeyed roughly 25 billion km beyond our planet, yet drilling beneath Earth's surface has only reached a depth of just over 12 km.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 5, 2026
But the sudden disappearance, then returning without a single soul...There was something brewing, a cauldron that the king had journeyed to stir.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
Evan Mills, a financial advisor at Scholar Advising who works with SpaceX employees, previously told MarketWatch that many of those employees believe in the company’s long-term vision, which includes journeying to Mars.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
In a blaring nightclub in wartime Myanmar, partied-out revellers doze until dawn by the dancefloor, wary of journeying home despite the end of a post-coup curfew.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
He says that many of them were thirsty, starving or had rotten feet after journeying into Evros.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2026
All of this searching, seeking, journeying, finding a sense of self and a sovereign self, all that stuff comes from a little hole, a little bit of lack in her.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025
That she is still journeying somewhere is apparent, for Mrs. Harker’s hypnotic report at sunrise was still the same.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
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.
