passer-by
Britishnoun
Explanation
A passer-by is someone who just happens to walk past something. If you trip and spill the contents of your backpack on the sidewalk, a kind passer-by will probably stop and help you gather your things. If you witness a car accident while you're walking to school, you're a passer-by, and if you stroll past someone who's juggling flaming torches on the sidewalk, you're also a passer-by. Before the mid-sixteenth century, the now-obsolete passager had the same meaning. Today, passer-by is a fairly straightforward word ("one who passes by"); its only slightly confusing aspect being the plural form, which is passers-by.
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.
Her mother, Sarah Keeling, 45, and passer-by, Mark Ratcliffe, 67, both died after trying to save her.
From BBC • Jan. 16, 2026
A passer-by spoke to her, which she says saved her life.
From BBC • Nov. 28, 2025
Another passer-by said it was a great idea.
From BBC • Sep. 21, 2025
The first victim was spotted by a passer-by near a bridge in Choisy-le-Roi, a south-eastern suburb of the capital, on 13 August.
From BBC • Aug. 20, 2025
No passer-by would detect a daughter in this house.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
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.
