passenger

[ pas-uh n-jer ]

/ ˈpæs ən dʒər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR passenger ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

Nearby words

Origin of passenger

1300–50; Middle English passager < Middle French, noun use of passag(i)er (adj.) passing, temporary; see passage¹, -ier²; for -n- cf. messenger, harbinger, scavenger, popinjay

Related formsnon·pas·sen·ger, noun

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

Examples from the Web for passenger

A click sends a user to a statement, a list of passenger nationalities, emergency call-center numbers, and other information.
The Presumed Crash of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Is Nothing Like MH370|Lennox Samuels|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Alexander and Adorno were doing what they could to save the officer on the passenger side, Liu.
'Please Don't Die!': The Frantic Battle to Save Murdered Cops|Michael Daly|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Brinsley stepped up to the passenger side of the patrol car, raised a silver Taurus semi-automatic pistol and began firing.
'Please Don't Die!': The Frantic Battle to Save Murdered Cops|Michael Daly|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
An Uber driver assaulted a passenger and it turned out he had a felony conviction, despite passing the background check.
The Ten Worst Uber Horror Stories|Olivia Nuzzi|November 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST

An Uber driver went on an anti-gay, ant-American rant before physically assaulting his passenger.
The Ten Worst Uber Horror Stories|Olivia Nuzzi|November 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The sensation that a ship gives a passenger when it dips after a swell returned, but it quickly passed.
The Guns of Europe|Joseph A. Altsheler
Charges for freight and passenger travel were enormous in the early days of the road.
Prowling about Panama|George A. Miller
A few women are among them—stewardesses of passenger boats and the wives of the captains of the other sorts of vessels.
Harper's Round Table, October 15, 1895|Various
But think of a passenger that would have been perfectly thankful to have been thrown overboard!
Lord Dolphin|Harriet A. Cheever
There were no passenger coaches—nothing but freight-cars and a caboose.
McAllister and His Double|Arthur Train

British Dictionary definitions for passenger

passenger

/ (ˈpæsɪndʒə) /

noun

a person travelling in a car, train, boat, etc, not driven by him
(as modifier)a passenger seat

mainly British a member of a group or team who is a burden on the others through not participating fully in the work

Word Origin for passenger

C14: from Old French passager passing, from passage 1

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 passenger

passenger

early 14c., passager "passer-by," from Old French passagier "traveler, passer-by" (Modern French passager), noun use of passagier (adj.) "passing, fleeting, traveling," from passage (see passage).

And in this I resemble the Lappwing, who fearing hir young ones to be destroyed by passengers, flyeth with a false cry farre from their nestes, making those that looke for them seeke where they are not .... [John Lyly, "Euphues and His England," 1580]

The -n- was added early 15c. (cf. messenger, harbinger, scavenger, porringer). Meaning "one traveling in a vehicle or vessel" first attested 1510s. Passenger-pigeon of North America so called from 1802; extinct since 1914.

passenger

noun

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Origin of passenger

Examples from the Web for passenger

passenger

noun

Word Origin for passenger

passenger