traveler
Americannoun
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travelers
plural
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a person or thing that travels.
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a person who travels or has traveled in distant places or foreign lands.
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part of a mechanism constructed to move in a fixed course.
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Textiles. (in ring spinning) a small metal device that moves rapidly around the ring and guides the yarn onto the revolving bobbin.
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Nautical.
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a metal ring or thimble fitted to move freely on a rope, spar, or rod.
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Also called horse. the rope, spar, or rod itself.
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Theater. Also traveler curtain. a transverse curtain opened by being drawn from both sides of the proscenium.
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(often initial capital letter) a member of any of a number of traditionally itinerant peoples of the British Isles and other English-speaking areas, including, in addition to people of Romani origin, Indigenous groups such as the speakers of Shelta.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of traveler
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English travaillour; see travel, -er 1
Explanation
If you take frequent trips across the country or around the world, you are a traveler. Take a plane to Mexico, and all the other passengers are travelers, just like you. Some people travel often, for work or fun, and they are travelers. Even if you're leaving your hometown for the very first time, you're considered a traveler while you are traveling. The trick to this word is that it sounds like it should have two Ls (and in Canada and the U.K., it's spelled traveller), but in the U.S. there's only one.
Vocabulary lists containing traveler
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 the poor in spirit, he was a fellow traveler.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026
An activist, journalist, and relentless traveler who said she went for 20 years without spending more than eight consecutive days in her New York apartment, Steinem described herself as “an entrepreneur of social change.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
That said, I’m not your average traveler, with 45 flights logged so far this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
You never know when you might need to patch up a cut, disinfect a wound, or even help an injured traveler on the side of the road.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
“We, um, found the Nightingale. And we drove him away. He’ll never bother any traveler to Kiev ever again.”
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
But even in the city and its immediate suburbs, it is helicopters used by the likes of police, travelers and news crews that often draw complaints.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Dumond recommends that travelers planning to head home for the holidays use Google’s flight-tracker tool to keep up with price changes.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
American travelers in Europe have been posting TikTok and Instagram videos about Sarti all summer, but it’s been in short supply in the States.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
The little hotels, motels and inns along Cambria’s Moonstone Beach Drive have been drawing travelers for more than 60 years, largely because of scenic, driftwood-strewn Moonstone Beach across the street.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
We all knew what was up: we’d found other evidence of travelers, and Miig’s first priority was to keep us safe.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
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.
