tourist
Americannoun
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a person who travels for pleasure, usually sightseeing and staying in hotels
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( as modifier )
tourist attractions
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a person on an excursion or sightseeing tour
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a person travelling abroad as a member of a sports team that is playing a series of usually international matches
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Also called: tourist class. the lowest class of accommodation on a passenger ship
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tourist
Explanation
Someone who visits a city, town, or historic site just for the pleasure of exploring it can be described as a tourist. When you travel for fun, you're a tourist. Some local inhabitants of vacation destinations might have a negative image of obnoxious, camera-toting tourists, but really they're just travelers who are curious about different parts of the world. Beaches, amusement parks, castles, and big cities are all places you're likely to run into tourists. The term "tourist trap," or a place that exists only to take tourists' money, was first used in 1939 by the novelist Graham Greene.
Vocabulary lists containing tourist
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for August 21–August 27, 2021
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Travel
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 5–February 11, 2022
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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:
The country’s Destination Thailand visa is a five-year, multiple-entry tourist visa that permits a stay of up to 180 days per entry.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
The tale of two women in the lonely landscape — a hardworking, rifle-wielding cafe owner and a stranded German tourist with a suitcase full of lederhosen — captivated viewers, particularly in Europe and Japan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Then you have the 2026 Philadelphia Phillies, who have as much reverence for tradition as a tourist with the audacity to ask for Camembert on his cheesesteak.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
The Mail agrees with her as it campaigns to "scrap the tourist tax".
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Today, one of the biggest tourist attractions is its medieval Jewish neighborhood, which looks like a storybook village in the photographs, with its stone buildings and winding alleys.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
For tourists, the hard part comes when it’s time to get their precious cargo home.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Bradley took care of her and the cafe, opening it each day for tourists to come in and take photos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
She told me that most of her clients were tourists seeking spiritual experiences, not desperate sick people.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Watched by new Test coach Stephen Fleming, England once again outclassed the tourists to conclude a one-sided series played on the fringe of autumn.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
“You could sell the tourists lemonade and your good apple pie.”
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
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.
