motel

[moh-tel]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR motel ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a hotel providing travelers with lodging and free parking facilities, typically a roadside hotel having rooms adjacent to an outside parking area or an urban hotel offering parking within the building.

Origin of motel

1920–25; blend of motor and hotel

Can be confusedhostel hotel motel (see synonym study at hotel)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for motel

lodge, resort, inn, hotel, cabin, court, roadhouse

Examples from the Web for motel

Contemporary Examples of motel

Such a woman would be much more difficult to catch unawares than a teenage escort trapped in a motel room.
Indiana Serial Killer’s Confession Was Just the Start
Michael Daly
October 21, 2014
Cunningham and a male friend went to the motel and entered the room.
Indiana Serial Killer’s Confession Was Just the Start
Michael Daly
October 21, 2014
We were finishing steaks at a motel dining room, washing them down with beer, when the waitress could stand it no longer.
Football Great Bob Suffridge Wanders Through the End Zone of Life
Paul Hemphill
September 6, 2014
He is said by investigators to have acknowledged going with Simonson to a motel in Rochester, Minnesota.
How ‘MrHandcuffs’ Ended Up With Two Corpses in Suitcases
Michael Daly
June 30, 2014
The woman left the motel and went to a Panorama City 7-Eleven, where she called the police.
More Bad News for Uber: Driver Arrested in Los Angeles Rape Case
Olivia Nuzzi
June 4, 2014

Historical Examples of motel

I found a motel in a rather untravelled spot and sacked in for the night.
Highways in Hiding
George Oliver Smith
The car was going to take a dive into the fountain pool in front of my motel.
Vigorish
Gordon Randall Garrett
She says a lot of motel owners do all right as Justices of the Peace.
The Love of Frank Nineteen
David Carpenter Knight
We got into the parking lot of a closed summer motel with a number of other travelers.
The Biography of a Rabbit
Roy Benson
They were about fifty miles to the west of there in a motel.
The Biography of a Rabbit
Roy Benson

British Dictionary definitions for motel

motel

noun

a roadside hotel for motorists, usually having direct access from each room or chalet to a parking space or garage

Word Origin for motel

C20: from motor + hotel

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for motel

1925, coined from motor- + hotel. Originally a hotel for automobile travelers.

The Milestone Interstate Corporation ... proposes to build and operate a chain of motor hotels between San Diego and Seattle, the hotels to have the name 'Motel.' ["Hotel Monthly," March 1925]