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)

junkets, present (3rd person singular) junketed, past participle, past junketing present participle

1. to go on a junket.

verb (used with object)

junkets, present (3rd person singular) junketed, past participle, past junketing present participle

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

Derived Forms

• junketer
  noun
• junketing
  noun

Conjugated Forms

Present

• have junketed
  perfect
• has junketed
  perfect 3rd person singular
• have been junketing
  perfect progressive
• am junketing
  progressive 1st person singular
• has been junketing
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• are junketing
  progressive
• junkets
  singular 3rd person
• is junketing
  progressive 3rd person singular
• junketing
  participle

Past

• had junketed
  perfect
• was junketing
  progressive singular
• were junketing
  progressive plural
• had been junketing
  perfect progressive
• junketed
  participle
• junketed
  simple

Future

• will junket
  simple
• will have junketed
  perfect
• will have been junketing
  perfect progressive
• will be junketing
  progressive

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

“It’s a bit like a dreamscape,” Luhrmann, 63, says of the movie as he sits in a suite at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills near the end of a recent press junket.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 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

“They have a nice little junket for a couple of weeks, they hear a couple of cases and then they’re flown out again,” he said.

From BBC • Jun. 7, 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