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• pilgrim
  pilgrim

  noun

  a person who journeys, especially a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion.
• Pilgrim
  Pilgrim

  noun

  See Canterbury Pilgrims

pilgrim

American  

[pil-grim, -gruhm] / ˈpɪl grɪm, -grəm /

noun

• pilgrims
  plural

1. a person who journeys, especially a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion.

   pilgrims to the Holy Land.

2. a traveler or wanderer, especially in a foreign place.

3. an original settler in a region.

4. (initial capital letter) one of the band of Puritans who founded the colony of Plymouth, Mass., in 1620.

5. a newcomer to a region or place, especially to the western U.S.

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pilgrim ¹ British  

/ ˈpɪlɡrɪm /

noun

1. a person who undertakes a journey to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion

2. any wayfarer

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Pilgrim ² British  

/ ˈpɪlɡrɪm /

noun

1. See Canterbury Pilgrims

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pilgrimatic
  adjective
• pilgrimatical
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pilgrims
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pilgrim

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English pelegrim, pilegrim, cognate with Old Frisian pilegrīm, Middle Low German pelegrīm, Old High German piligrīm, Old Norse pīlagrīmr, all from Medieval Latin pelegrīnus, dissimilated variant of Latin peregrīnus peregrine

Explanation

You might be a Muslim on your way to Mecca, or a Hindu going to the Ganges, or a Christian traveling to Lourdes. When you make a reverent journey to a place you consider sacred, you're a pilgrim. You can also use the word less seriously and call yourself a pilgrim when you make the trip to Graceland for Elvis Week. Another kind of pilgrim (often spelled with a capital P) are the Puritans who fled religious persecution in Europe, came over on the Mayflower, and founded Plymouth Colony, in Massachusetts. The word comes from the Latin peregrinus, "foreign," or "a foreigner," and if you just travel to foreign countries, you’re a pilgrim, too.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pilgrim Pilgrim pilgrims

“I’m just a weary pilgrim trying to find what feels like home,” she sings.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

I had only ever seen him on Zoom, and although he was tall, which was nice, I tried not to judge his brown cracked-leather buckled pilgrim shoes paired with high-waist Wrangler jeans.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

The city's many pilgrim tour companies sit idle.

From Barron's ● May 4, 2026

Every person is a pilgrim on their own grief journey.

From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2026

The pilgrim, a professor, a monk, and some sort of hermit all meet and hash over things.

From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger

Pilgrim Fatemeh Moradi, 52, has been to the Arbaeen at least five times before, but said that this year is for "our martyred leader, on his behalf and on the behalf of all the martyrs".

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

Goodyear’s first branded blimp, Pilgrim, made its inaugural flight on June 3, 1925, and the famous airships have graced the skies ever since, photographing and filming Super Bowls, World Series, Olympics and more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2025

The state produces only about half as much electricity as it did in 2010 because of closures of coal plants and the Pilgrim nuclear plant in 2019.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025

There was a Pilgrim museum built in the middle of the 19th century.

From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2024

Nearly everybody, seemingly, had an atrocity story of something Billy Pilgrim had done to him in his sleep.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut

Many pilgrims combine the trip with a visit to nearby Lake Manasarovar, whose waters are considered purifying, to pray and make offerings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

It is a place where pilgrims heading towards Mount Kailash cross paths with traders travelling between Nepal and China, truck drivers, customs officials, tourists and people who live along the border.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

Foreign diplomatic missions were expecting heavy traffic of pilgrims this year, including Indian-Americans, according to a U.S. diplomat in the region.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

At least 3,048 people remain missing, including many tourists and pilgrims to Tibet's sacred Mount Kailash.

From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026

A little while after they were gone a steward went through announcing the first service, and pilgrims, with their priests, commenced filing down the corridor.

From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway

Related Words

• settler
• traveler