junket
Americannoun
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a sweet, custardlike food of flavored milk curdled with rennet.
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a pleasure excursion, as a picnic or outing.
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a trip, as by an official or legislative committee, paid out of public funds and ostensibly to obtain information.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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an excursion, esp one made for pleasure at public expense by a public official or committee
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a sweet dessert made of flavoured milk set to a curd with rennet
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a feast or festive occasion
verb
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(intr) (of a public official, committee, etc) to go on a junket
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to have or entertain with a feast or festive gathering
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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junketsimple
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junketssimple
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have junketedperfect
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has junketedperfect
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am junketingprogressive
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are junketingprogressive
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is junketingprogressive
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have been junketingperfect progressive
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has been junketingperfect progressive
Past
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junketedsimple
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had junketedperfect
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was junketingprogressive
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were junketingprogressive
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had been junketingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing junket
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The Melting Pot: Food Words from Other Languages
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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.
In March 2024, several dozen insurance agents from the U.S. took part in a three-day junket in and around Medellín, Colombia, where Regan lived and worked.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 29, 2026
The Salvador leg of the junket had little to do with China.
From Salon • May 29, 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
I find it deeply personal to photograph someone in their own home: There is a level of comfort and intimacy that comes through that you can’t always capture at a press junket in a ballroom.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 23, 2024
“Not the silly ass who managed to get himself drowned yesterday?” said Basil through a mouthful of hazelnut junket.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
