passenger

[pas-uhn-jer]

noun

1. 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.

2. a wayfarer; traveler.

passenger

/ ˈpæsɪndʒə /

noun

1. 1. a person travelling in a car, train, boat, etc, not driven by him

   2. ( as modifier )

      a passenger seat

2. 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of passenger¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of passenger¹

C14: from Old French passager passing, from _passage ¹

Example Sentences

Passing cars honked in salute, with one passenger rolling down her window and shouting, “The kidnapped are returning!”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

I collected my charges and, just as we were preparing to walk home, a tall young man leapt from the passenger seat of a battered Chevy pickup truck parked at the side of the road.

Read more on Salon

Government officials, including Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, are set to visit the scene of the crash as well as the injured passengers.

Read more on BBC

At least 40 people including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

Read more on Barron's

"They're travelling in inhuman conditions," fretted the mayor of Mbandaka, who had come to the riverbank to check the boat was not overloaded and the passengers would be provided with life jackets.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• commuter 
• customer 
• fare 
• patron 
• pilgrim 
• rider 
• tourist 
• traveler