travel
Americanverb (used without object)
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travels,
present (3rd person singular)
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traveled,
past participle, past
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travelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
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traveling,
present participle
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travelling
present participle (especially British)
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to go from one place to another, as by car, train, plane, or ship; take a trip; journey.
to travel for pleasure.
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to move or go from one place or point to another.
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to proceed or advance in any way.
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to go from place to place as a representative of a business firm.
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to associate or consort.
He travels in a wealthy crowd.
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Informal. to move with speed.
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to pass, or be transmitted, as light or sound.
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Basketball. (of a player in possession of the ball) to take more than two steps without dribbling or passing the ball.
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to move in a fixed course, as a piece of mechanism.
verb (used with object)
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travels,
present (3rd person singular)
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traveled,
past participle, past
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travelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
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traveling,
present participle
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travelling
present participle (especially British)
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to travel, journey, or pass through or over, as a country or road.
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to journey or traverse (a specified distance).
We traveled a hundred miles.
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to cause to journey; ship.
to travel logs downriver.
noun
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the act of traveling; journeying, especially to distant places.
to travel to other planets.
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travels,
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to set out on one's travels.
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journeys as the subject of a written account or literary work.
a book of travels.
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such an account or work.
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the coming and going of persons or conveyances along a way of passage; traffic.
an increase in travel on state roads.
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Basketball. an instance of traveling with the ball.
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Machinery.
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the complete movement of a moving part, especially a reciprocating part, in one direction, or the distance traversed; stroke.
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length of stroke.
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movement or passage in general.
to reduce the travel of food from kitchen to table.
adjective
verb
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to go, move, or journey from one place to another
he travels to improve his mind
she travelled across France
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(tr) to go, move, or journey through or across (an area, region, etc)
he travelled the country
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to go, move, or cover a specified or unspecified distance
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to go from place to place as a salesman
to travel in textiles
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(esp of perishable goods) to withstand a journey
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(of light, sound, etc) to be transmitted or move
the sound travelled for miles
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to progress or advance
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basketball to take an excessive number of steps while holding the ball
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(of part of a mechanism) to move in a fixed predetermined path
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informal to move rapidly
that car certainly travels
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informal (often foll by with) to be in the company (of); associate
noun
-
-
the act of travelling
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( as modifier )
a travel brochure
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(usually plural) a tour or journey
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the distance moved by a mechanical part, such as the stroke of a piston
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movement or passage
Spelling
The word travel has come to exemplify a common spelling quandary: to double or not to double the final consonant of a verb before adding the ending that forms the past tense ( –ed ) or the ending that forms the present-participle ( –ing. ) We see it done both ways—sometimes with the same word ( travel, traveled, traveling; travel, travelled, travelling ). As readers, we accept these variations without even thinking about them. But as writers, we need to know just when we should double that final consonant and when we should not. Because American practice differs slightly from British practice, there is no one answer. But there are well-established conventions. In American writing, when you have a one-syllable verb that ends with a single vowel followed by a single consonant, and you want to add a regular inflectional ending that begins with a vowel, you double that final consonant before adding -ed or -ing : stop, stopped, stopping; flag, flagged, flagging. This principle also holds for verbs of more than one syllable if the final syllable is stressed: permit, permitted, permitting; refer, referred, referring. If that syllable is not stressed, there is no doubling of the final consonant: gallop, galloped, galloping; travel, traveled, traveling. British spelling conventions are similar. They deviate from American practices only when the verb ends with a single vowel followed by an l . In that case, no matter the stress pattern, the final l gets doubled. Thus British writing has repel, repelled, repelling (as would American writing, since the final syllable is stressed). But it also has travel, travelled, travelling and cancel, cancelled, cancelling, since in the context of British writing the verb’s final l, not its stress pattern, is the determining factor. Verbs ending in other consonants have the same doubling patterns that they would have in American writing. An outlier on both sides of the Atlantic is the small group of verbs ending in -ic and one lonely -ac verb. They require an added k before inflectional endings in order to retain the appropriate “hard” sound of the letter c : panic, panicked, panicking; frolic, frolicked, frolicking; shellac, shellacked, shellacking. Canadians, of course, are free to use either British or American spellings.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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pretravelnoun
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outtravelverb (used with object)
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nontravelingadjective
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nontravellingadjective
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travelableadjective
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untravelingadjective
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untravellingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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travelsimple
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travelssimple
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have traveledperfect
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have travelledperfect
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has traveledperfect
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has travelledperfect
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am travelingprogressive
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am travellingprogressive
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are travelingprogressive
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are travellingprogressive
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is travelingprogressive
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is travellingprogressive
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have been travelingperfect progressive
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have been travellingperfect progressive
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has been travelingperfect progressive
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has been travellingperfect progressive
Past
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traveledsimple
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travelledsimple
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had traveledperfect
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had travelledperfect
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was travelingprogressive
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was travellingprogressive
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were travelingprogressive
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were travellingprogressive
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had been travelingperfect progressive
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had been travellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of travel
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English (Northern and Scots), originally the same word as travail (by semantic change from “to toil, labor,” then “to make a laborious journey,” then “to journey,” a change that did not occur in French and other Romance languages); spelling travel is due to an accent shift in the 14th century
Explanation
To travel is the act of going from one place to another, usually a considerable distance. Your daily commute in the morning doesn't generally count as travel. Your trip to Timbuktu? That counts. Travel can also be used as a noun — as in your travels to Timbuktu. Or perhaps you prefer time travel or space travel. Objects that are especially adapted for use when you travel are often modified by the word travel; for example, a "travel-bag," "travel- games," or a "travel iron." And if something is particularly popular in another country or culture from its place of origin, say a cheese, a wine, or a type of music, it's said to "travel well."
Vocabulary lists containing travel
"Mysteries of the Ancient Past"
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"Escaping to Freedom" and "Follow the Drinking Gourd"
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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.
See Examples For:
For decades, organic chemistry textbooks have generally taught that the influence of certain atoms can travel through three or four bonds within a molecule.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Athletes typically use that funding to pay for training camps, equipment, travel and, in some cases, personal support staff like physiotherapists, nutritionists and chefs.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Patrick Huey, an adviser in Naples, Fla., has been working with a couple with a 15-year age gap who have been giving priority to travel now, while the older spouse is still able.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
The passenger train line between Warsaw and Kyiv is a a main travel route for civilians, as the Kremlin knows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
In fairy tales, stars could come down to Earth and help you travel across worlds.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
That substitution was a clever one by Maresca and brave too, because while Ndiaye is better than Cherki defensively, he is also a ball-carrier who travels with the ball better too.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
The comedian, who travels several times a week, appealed to airlines for a keep-your-feet-covered policy in an Instagram post to her 5.5 million followers that went viral.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
That claim will be put to the test against one of California’s best teams next week, when Mission Viejo travels to Sacramento to play Folsom High.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
The faster the sail travels, the harder it becomes for the laser to keep increasing its speed.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026
“The only sea passage from the PersianGulf to the Gulf of Oman and then out to sea. Twenty-one percent of the world’s oil travels through the narrow passage.”
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
Since then he’s traveled across England to watch matches, including at Lord’s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Instead of lingering for weeks, it traveled upward and erupted within a matter of hours.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Their analysis suggests that water had traveled far beneath the surface before contributing to the formation of magma that fed volcanoes resembling those found around the Pacific "Ring of Fire" today.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
Two of these individuals traveled to an outbreak-affected state, ate at a Taco Bell and became ill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
“Exotic creatures are my specialty, governess. I’ve traveled the globe in search of the rare, the fascinating, the one of a kind. Or, in this case, three of a kind.”
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Manager Lou Macari travelled to Prague to accompany his £300,000 signing on the flight to Heathrow Airport but missed his debut, resigning a day later, with Billy Bonds taking over.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
The US admiral travelled to Saudi Arabia on Thursday for urgent coordination meetings, according to US news site Axios.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
His wife had reportedly travelled to the capital Jakarta in the previous days.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
The brothers covered about 260 miles in a straight line over the course of eight months, but travelled nearly 10 times that overall while crossing through a broken-up landscape.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
At his side lived Govinda, his shadow; he travelled along the same path, made the same endeavors.
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
Of those, 65 were domestically acquired, meaning infected people became ill either in the state or after traveling within the United States.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
More recently, colleagues complained that Aiello, based in New York, seemed distracted by traveling to tend to Cesena FC, the Italian soccer team he and an investor group took a stake in several years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Our favorite games unfolded beneath the dining table; at times, we transformed it into a bus, traveling to unfamiliar places, as we took turns playing different roles: the driver, the passenger, and the ticket officer.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
The disturbance spreads outward, potentially traveling long distances before reaching the coast.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026
“Did she spew some nonsense in yours about traveling together?”
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Belfast Coastguard received a distress call from the boat, which had been travelling from Oban in Scotland to Portugal.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
The ferry had been travelling off the mainland town of Coron, in the Palawan Province, south of Manila.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
In what is believed to be its first time travelling outside France, the tapestry depicting 627 figures and more than 700 animals has been laid flat in a raised glass cabinet.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
They had been travelling home to El Nido in Palawan on board the vessel when it caught fire.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
My mother, especially, grew very fond of her and came to see us often, although it meant travelling several hours in a bullock cart, which is very tiring when one is no longer young.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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.
