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
-
-
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:
Researchers studying the origins of Stonehenge's Altar Stone have proposed a new possibility for how the enormous rock began its journey from Scotland to southern England.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Diego Rivera protege’s paintings journey from dumpster to museum.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
“And excited for him in his journey and what it could turn into.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Neither Cooper-Lesadd nor Plaid will say how or when the talks over the defection began, only that the process had gone on for "a while" and she had been on a "journey".
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Unlike Father, I’ll tell my son about the land rush journey.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
There, the discussion shifted from seven-part heroes’ journeys centered on skipping little luxuries like Starbucks to drink-based dominance theory.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
Charities step in to help some people leave on chartered planes, as well as via long, excruciating journeys on overcrowded trains and buses.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
More supertankers are also off the market as they are taking longer journeys around the Cape of Good Hope.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the new trains would deliver "faster, more reliable journeys to the north and thousands of British jobs for the next generation".
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
She made her journeys to see me in the night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of her day’s work.
From "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass
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
“This is a part of what I have journeyed so far to learn,” Gwydion said.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
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
Today, the island can only be reached at low tide - and people are advised to check the tide times before journeying over.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 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
He may have been journeying to his death, but he was at least wise enough to keep his question guarded within himself.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
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.
