passenger
Americannoun
-
a person who is traveling in an automobile, bus, train, airplane, or other conveyance, especially one who is not the driver, pilot, or the like.
-
a wayfarer; traveler.
noun
-
-
a person travelling in a car, train, boat, etc, not driven by him
-
( as modifier )
a passenger seat
-
-
a member of a group or team who is a burden on the others through not participating fully in the work
Other Word Forms
- nonpassenger noun
Etymology
Origin of passenger
1300–50; Middle English passager < Middle French, noun use of passag ( i ) er (adj.) passing, temporary; passage 1, -ier 2; for -n- messenger, harbinger, scavenger, popinjay
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.
This makes it a welcome passenger on lazy day trips or late-night drives, and a generally acceptable ambient addition to crowded good times.
From Salon • Apr. 4, 2026
Leaning across the center console, he flung open the passenger door.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
Meanwhile in August 2025, an Apollo Go robotaxi carrying a passenger in Chongqing fell into a construction pit.
From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026
Through March, BYD’s passenger vehicle sales were down 30% year over year.
From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026
New Sky Trails employee saves passenger on first day on job, she thought to herself, imagining the praise and congratulations—and maybe the raise—she’d be sure to receive if what she was visualizing was real.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
