motel
Americannoun
-
motels
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of motel
Compare meaning
How does motel compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A motel is a place you can stay overnight, with plenty of parking and easy access to a highway. Many motels feature rooms with separate entrances that face a large parking lot. A motel is very much like a hotel — it fact, motels were originally "motor hotels." The first official motel was built in 1925, designed to be an easy, cheap stop on a long car trip. While hotels are often in the middle of cities, motels are usually on a city's outskirts, providing space to park and a quick walk from car to room. The popularity of motels increased through the twentieth century, along with the development of the modern highway system.
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:
Our big annual vacation was driving to Florida and staying in a modest motel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
The interview, filmed in a Philadelphia studio dressed up to resemble a seedy motel in a wink at the laptop scandal, quickly became a viral sensation, generating millions of views.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
The address she was given turned out to be a "dingy gross motel", but she says she presumed they would be heading out somewhere else.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
To save money, the four shared one motel room outside of Manhattan in Sussex, N.J, for about $100 a night, and have planned similar accommodations as they travel to Providence, R.I.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026
I tell him about the schedule of the farmers markets, the name of that first motel Mom and I stayed at, and every detail I can think of when it comes to Dr.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
Three years ago, workers with Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program moved dozens of homeless people from Aguirre’s neighborhood into nearby hotels and motels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
The city’s overall homeless population rose 3.4% including those the city puts up in motels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Pandemic-era rental assistance provided many with a pathway into permanent housing, including some hotels and motels that converted to housing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
In those states and beyond, the caravan from Santa Monica will find hotels and motels in every kind of condition, vintage neon, road food, blue states, red states and purple states.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
So, through multiple calls, I arrive at a list of eleven motels in the Twin Cities area, all of them of the non-brand- name variety, offering weekly rates.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
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.
