round trip

American  

noun

round trips plural

1. a trip to a given place and back again.

   Fares for round trips often have a discount.

2. a transportation ticket for such a trip.

3. Pinochle. roundhouse.

---

round trip British  

noun

1. a trip to a place and back again, esp returning by a different route

---

round trip Idioms  

1. A journey to a given place and back again, usually over the same route; also, a ticket for such a trip. For example, The fare for a round trip is generally lower than for two one-way journeys. [Mid-1800s]

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• round-trip
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• round trips
  plural

Etymology

Origin of round trip

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Example Sentences

Oliver lives with his mum in Sudbury, so Gary does a 210-mile, six-hour round trip from Lowestoft every time he takes his son for a haircut, but he says it "is 100% worth doing".

From BBC • Jun. 17, 2026

Raisor, meanwhile, once drove to Indianapolis for a date — a round trip that cost him $100 in gas.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 3, 2026

“Passengers paid an average of $60 more for a round trip on the same route after Spirit exited—that’s close to a $250 increase for a family of four,” the airline has said.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026

The MV Hondius sailed on March 20 from Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego on the southern edge of Argentina, on a round trip to the Antarctica Peninsula, returning to port 11 days later.

From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2026

“Was it over four thousand five hundred and seventeen miles? ’Cause that would be the length of a round trip to Bakersfield from Columbus and back.”

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein