limousine
Americannoun
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any large, luxurious automobile, especially one driven by a chauffeur.
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a large sedan or small bus, especially one for transporting passengers to and from an airport, between train stations, etc.
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a former type of automobile having a permanently enclosed compartment for from three to five persons, with a roof projecting forward over the driver's seat in front.
noun
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any large and luxurious car, esp one that has a glass division between the driver and passengers
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a former type of car in which the roof covering the rear seats projected over the driver's compartment
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of limousine
1900–05; < French: kind of motorcar, special use of limousine long cloak, so called because worn by the shepherds of Limousin
Explanation
A limousine is a fancy car that's driven by a special driver. Some high school kids hire limousines to take them and their friends to the prom. Some limousines are unusually long, stretched-out versions of regular sedans, while others are merely large and luxurious. The passengers in a limousine sit in the back, sometimes separated from the driver, or chauffeur, by a partition. Wealthy people might own their limousines, but most people rent them for special occasions like weddings. In the US, the word is also used to mean a more ordinary type of hired car: "I'll just take a limousine to the airport."
Vocabulary lists containing limousine
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.
See Examples For:
In Ankara, Turkish riders on horseback flanked Trump's limousine as it drove through the hushed streets to the presidential palace where an honour guard in red and blue uniforms greeted him.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
Nearby, a driver for a limousine service chatted with his dispatcher.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
A convoy of vans, lorries, tractors, and even a limousine, are taking part in a 'go-slow' around the town centre before crossing the border into Lifford, County Donegal.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026
The access fee increase affects companies such as Uber, Lyft, as well as taxi and limousine companies that operate at the airport.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026
A few minutes later, a black limousine rolled to a stop on the gravel driveway in front of the building.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
Bingo, nearly a decade later the lawsuits have racked up only losses in their campaign to blame Exxon for providing the fuel for the limousines and jets that Rockefeller trustees ride around in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
The presidential motorcade - including two identical limousines nicknamed The Beast and other security and communications vehicles - was flown in on US Air Force transport aircraft.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2025
Other limousines he’s reportedly used include a Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman Guard and a Maybach S62.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
The demonstration, which involved about 1,000 protesters, backed up the arrivals of A-listers on the red carpet, with approximately 350 protesters blocking the cavalcade of limousines at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2024
The good part of this is that since I was there when Big Joe was first talking about his funeral I was going to get to ride in one of the limousines.
From "145th Street: Short Stories" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
