sojourn
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
have sojournedperfect
-
has sojournedperfect 3rd person singular
-
am sojourningprogressive 1st person singular
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sojourningparticiple
-
have been sojourningperfect progressive
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has been sojourningperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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sojournssingular 3rd person
-
is sojourningprogressive 3rd person singular
-
are sojourningprogressive
Past
-
had sojournedperfect
-
had been sojourningperfect progressive
-
was sojourningprogressive singular
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sojournedsimple
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sojournedparticiple
-
were sojourningprogressive plural
Future
Etymology
Origin of sojourn
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English verb sojurnen, Old French sojorner “to rest, stay,” from unattested Vulgar Latin subdiurnāre “to stay for a time,” a compound of the preposition and prefix sub, sub-, here meaning “a little, for a while” and the Latin verb diurnāre “to live for a long time,” a derivative of the Latin adjective diurnus “belonging to the daytime, occurring every day”; noun derivative of the verb; see journey
Explanation
A sojourn is a short stay or visit. If you want a fancy way to say that you took a trip to the countryside, you might talk about your country sojourn. The verb is originally from the Latin prefix sub-, "under" plus diurnus, "of a day." You might refer to your vacation as a sojourn, but it might make more sense if you are describing a trip to Provence rather than a trip to Disney World. Or In figurative use, sojourn means "to delve" — your math teacher may stop midway through lessons on fractions for a brief sojourn into techniques for slicing pie.
Vocabulary lists containing sojourn
A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Grade 10, List 5
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 14–18
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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.
Beyond a couple of scuff marks and some debris jammed into the treads, our sojourn had left the shoes looking much as they had when I’d first taken them off the shelf.
From Slate • Jun. 5, 2026
Those uprisings, later coined the Arab Spring, succeeded in bringing about a short democratic sojourn in Tunisia and a much briefer one in Egypt, but they also unleashed unrest.
From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026
And the comparison to Bowie’s West German sojourn is apt: working with his producers, Styles has clearly immersed himself in the avant-garde, taking chances, and embracing idiosyncrasy.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2026
Or to honesty, as a rule, though he insists that this account of his disastrous Venetian sojourn is genuine.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025
I had to shake my head, remembering how we all brought him food—sandwiches and cookies and stuff, but his sojourn didn’t last much beyond dinnertime.
From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings
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.
