tour
Americannoun
-
tours
plural
-
a traveling around from place to place.
-
a long journey including the visiting of a number of places in sequence, especially with an organized group led by a guide.
- Synonyms:
- expedition, trip
-
a brief trip through a place, as a building or a site, in order to view or inspect it.
The visiting prime minister was given a tour of the chemical plant.
-
a journey from town to town to fulfill engagements, as by a theatrical company or an entertainer.
to go on tour; a European concert tour.
-
a period of duty at one place or in one job.
verb (used without object)
-
tours,
present (3rd person singular)
-
toured,
past participle, past
-
touring
present participle
-
to travel from place to place.
- Synonyms:
- visit
-
to travel from town to town fulfilling engagements.
verb (used with object)
-
tours,
present (3rd person singular)
-
toured,
past participle, past
-
touring
present participle
-
to travel through (a place).
- Synonyms:
- visit
-
to send or take (a theatrical company, its production, etc.) from town to town.
-
to guide (someone) on a tour.
He toured us through the chateaus of the Loire Valley.
noun
-
an extended journey, usually taken for pleasure, visiting places of interest along the route
-
military a period of service, esp in one place of duty
-
a short trip, as for inspection
-
a trip made by a theatre company, orchestra, etc, to perform in several different places
a concert tour
-
an overseas trip made by a cricket or rugby team, etc, to play in several places
verb
-
to make a tour of (a place)
-
to perform (a show) or promote (a product) in several different places
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
toursimple
-
tourssimple
-
have touredperfect
-
has touredperfect
-
am touringprogressive
-
are touringprogressive
-
is touringprogressive
-
have been touringperfect progressive
-
has been touringperfect progressive
Past
-
touredsimple
-
had touredperfect
-
was touringprogressive
-
were touringprogressive
-
had been touringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tour
1250–1300; Middle English (noun) < Middle French < Latin tornus < Greek tórnos tool for making a circle. See turn
Explanation
Use the noun tour to describe a route taken while sight-seeing or the act of experiencing a place, like a tour of Italy in which travelers tour museums and churches. Not all tours have to do with vacations. In fact, a tour can be quite the opposite, such as a snowplow driver whose tour during a blizzard lasts until the streets are clear, or military personnel who serve a tour of duty in the place they are assigned. These kinds of tours involve a commitment of work or service for a certain period of time.
Vocabulary lists containing tour
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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:
Powderfinger, one of Australia's best loved rock bands, has unveiled details of a comeback tour – to take place 17 years after they broke up.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Yet interest rates never came up during her visit, which ended with a tour of the busy factory floor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
The tour schedule of only playing on Friday and Saturday nights is similar to that adopted by Oasis in their world tour last year.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Barry Manilow has returned to the stage after taking a break following his summer tour.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Elisha struggled through the remaining dates of a lecture tour, bedridden between appearances.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Next year, however, players will be asked to disclose which tours they intend to play on, and their answer will be taken into account when deciding on their membership.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
As Saronic, which makes autonomous sea vessels, weighed sites in 2025, Sramek’s deputies courted local leaders with riverside tours alongside retired military brass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
In 1991, they acquired the Magical Mystery Tour - bus tours of Liverpool - and the Cavern Club venue.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
It offers only guided tours to small groups by prior arrangement.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
“My job is to give tours, Mrs. Das.”
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
She toured remote provinces rarely visited by international journalists in recent years thanks to government restrictions and the difficulty of procuring fuel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
In 2019, they revealed that it was the very first home they toured together while searching for a place where they could embrace the small-town lifestyle they envisioned.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
His fiancée, Faith Webb, and his mom toured four homes before picking the roughly 3,100-square-foot house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Nepal's president, Ram Chandra Paudel, toured areas devastated by the floods on Monday, an aide told Reuters.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
On the journey homeward, she toured parts of her empire.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
Nozell was Parton’s longtime manager and is credited with reviving the “I Will Always Love You” singer’s international touring career.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
It began with a one-off playing “Murmur,” and they recently finished touring “Lifes Rich Pageant” and came through Detroit at the end of September.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
Another of the items in his collection, a Kangol rain jacket produced for the band's touring personnel, sold for £2,000.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
King Charles III will acknowledge the "darkest days" of colonial rule and slavery while touring Caribbean countries on a visit beginning this month, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Friday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
These days, he says, bands make their money from touring, not from putting out music, even hits.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
