trailer

American  

[tray-ler] / ˈtreɪ lər /

noun

• trailers
  plural

1. a large van or wagon drawn by an automobile, truck, or tractor, used especially in hauling freight by road.

2. Also called travel trailer. a vehicle attached to an automobile and used as a mobile home or place of business, usually equipped with furniture, kitchen facilities, bathroom, etc.

3. a person or thing that trails.

4. a trailing plant.

5. a short promotional film composed of clips showing highlights of a movie due for release in the near future.

6. blank film at the end of a reel or strip of film, for winding off the film in a motion-picture camera or projector.

7. Ceramics. a can with a spout, used in slip trailing.

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trailer British  

/ ˈtreɪlə /

noun

1. a road vehicle, usually two-wheeled, towed by a motor vehicle: used for transporting boats, etc

2. the part of an articulated lorry that is drawn by the cab

3. a series of short extracts from a film, used to advertise it in a cinema or on television

4. a person or thing that trails

5. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): caravan. a large enclosed vehicle capable of being pulled by a car or lorry and equipped to be lived in

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• trailers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of trailer

First recorded in 1580–90; trail + -er ¹

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Explanation

A trailer is a wheeled vehicle that can't move on its own — it needs to be pulled by a car, truck, or other vehicle. Some bike-riding parents tow their small children behind them in bicycle trailers. The trailer you might put a boat on, hitching it to your truck, trails behind the vehicle that's pulling it. Another meaning of trailer is a film preview or advertisement that theaters show before a movie. It might seem strange to call it a trailer when it comes first, but the earliest trailers, at the start of the 20th century, came after the movie, trailing it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

trailer trailers

It looks like this: Humans load a trailer and drive it to a depot where they hand it off to a driverless tractor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Rockstar posted a new trailer online for "GTA VI" featuring a song from "original score composers Justice", who are best known for their work during the late "French Touch" electro wave of the early 2000s.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Rockstar has released a new launch trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, revealing more details about what is set to be the biggest game of the year.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

At one checkpoint, National Guard soldiers opened the trailer and, seeing a wall of hay bales, let it pass.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

Tomás was behind them, driving the Shop — a forty-foot trailer pulled by a Mack semi tractor — by himself.

From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith

Guoth said he put his ducks and chickens in the bathroom and weighed down his boats and trailers so "nothing flips over".

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Intermodal containers and trailers carried on U.S. railroads in the week ended Sept. 19, up 6.9% from a year earlier, according to the Association of American Railroads.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Ordinarily, I try not to spend too much of my one precious life watching Marvel trailers — or Marvel movies, for that matter.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

While drivers know gas prices, truckers and businesses are sharply aware of diesel prices, as the fuel powers tractor trailers, freight trains and farm equipment.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

I stay close to the trailers, hoping to hide in the shadows.

From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed

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Related Words

• mobile home

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