motel
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of motel
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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:
Two weeks later, on Dec. 8, San Francisco police got a tip that Kirchner had been spotted at a cheap motel two hours away in Merced, Calif., according to police records.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Authorities are investigating a fire outside a Wilmington motel Friday night that may have been ignited by fireworks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 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
But for now, the motel surprises keep coming.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
The other eleven kids started looking around the motel grounds, searching for a brightly painted tree stump.
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
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
At that point, she received credit for moving swiftly to clear homeless encampments across the city, and to move their occupants into hotels, motels and other temporary facilities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 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
Some pack into homes with family and friends, while others turn to motels they rent by the week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
She was stupid to think she could patch this thing together; stupid to think there’d be nice motels and cheap B&Bs along the way.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
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.
