suitor

[soo-ter]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR suitor ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a man who courts or woos a woman.

Law. a petitioner or plaintiff.

a person who sues or petitions for anything.

Informal. an individual who seeks to buy a business.

Origin of suitor

1250–1300; Middle English s(e)utor, suitour < Anglo-French < Latin secūtor, equivalent to secū-, variant stem of sequī to follow + -tor -tor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for suitor

beau, paramour, boyfriend, admirer, lover, woman, supplicant, date, follower, swain, cavalier, girlfriend, man, wooer

Examples from the Web for suitor

Contemporary Examples of suitor

I find both “admirer” and “suitor” to be presumptuous and one-sided.
What Should I Call the Man I Love?
Dushka Zapata
November 18, 2014
When Cato still refused, the suitor then asked Cato for Cato's own wife.
Who Was the Real Cato?
David Frum
December 20, 2012
Soni and Goodman attribute the complicated story to the shared Stoic philosophy of Cato and the suitor.
Who Was the Real Cato?
David Frum
December 20, 2012

Historical Examples of suitor

Had not her uncle brought him declaredly as a suitor to her?
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
And the suitor, my dear, was the kind of man who could endure that kind of people.
Her Father's Daughter
Gene Stratton-Porter
Otherwise, should I not have married some other suitor, of whom there have been plenty?
Fair Margaret
H. Rider Haggard
The suitor was required to make presents to the bride's family.
The Truth About Woman
C. Gasquoine Hartley
They have made him responsible to a realm of shadows, and a suitor in a court of shades.
Vivian Grey
Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli

British Dictionary definitions for suitor

suitor

noun

a man who courts a woman; wooer

law a person who brings a suit in a court of law; plaintiff

rare a person who makes a request or appeal for anything

Word Origin for suitor

C13: from Anglo-Norman suter, from Latin secūtor follower, from sequī to follow

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for suitor

late 14c., "follower, disciple," from Anglo-French seutor or directly from Late Latin secutor, from past participle stem of sequi "to follow" (see suit (n.)). Meaning "one who seeks (a woman) in marriage" is from 1580s.