junket

American  

[juhng-kit] / ˈdʒʌŋ kɪt /

noun

1. a sweet, custardlike food of flavored milk curdled with rennet.

2. a pleasure excursion, as a picnic or outing.

3. a trip, as by an official or legislative committee, paid out of public funds and ostensibly to obtain information.

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verb (used without object)

1. to go on a junket.

verb (used with object)

1. to entertain; feast; regale.

junket British  

/ ˈdʒʌŋkɪt /

noun

1. an excursion, esp one made for pleasure at public expense by a public official or committee

2. a sweet dessert made of flavoured milk set to a curd with rennet

3. a feast or festive occasion

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verb

1. (intr) (of a public official, committee, etc) to go on a junket

2. to have or entertain with a feast or festive gathering

Other Word Forms

• junketer
  noun
• junketing
  noun

Etymology

Origin of junket

1350–1400; Middle English jonket < Old French (dial.) jonquette rush basket, equivalent to jonc (< Latin juncus reed) + -ette -ette

Explanation

A junket is a pleasure trip, often funded by someone else. You've probably heard of a politician taking a junket to a fancy resort, all paid for using taxpayer money. A junket can be used as a gift to try to get something from the person going on the trip. If you're a travel reporter and resort owners pay for your junket to check out their new property in Hawaii, you might feel like you owe them a good review. A junket isn't always devious: the word can simply mean a journey taken for pleasure, like when you take your boat out and sail down the coast for a couple days.

Example Sentences

After acquiring the film’s distribution rights on the star power of Kemp’s name alone, Netflix has organized the junket as a pre-production preview to tout its next big awards contender.

From Salon • Jan. 13, 2026

For every thoughtful, interesting question asked of an artist on a red carpet or during a junket, there are three more vapid ones, and offenders almost always have a tiny microphone.

From Salon • Jan. 11, 2026

On a travel junket that inspired his first book, “Innocents Abroad,” Twain saw a portrait of his future wife, Olivia “Livy” Langdon.

From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2025

At a press junket for her new sci-fi movie Atlas last week, Lopez dismissed a question concerning reports of problems with her marriage.

From BBC • Jun. 1, 2024

But just one month before Dorothy’s trip from Farmville, Air Scoop covered Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox’s one-day junket to the laboratory.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Related Words

• excursion