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:
“I am praying my flight doesn’t get cancelled,” the traveler wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Health workers were screening passengers at the country’s main airport when a Congolese traveler presented with a high temperature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
He owned a 56-foot yacht he named Silver Lining, and authorities said he was known as a master yachtsman and a world traveler.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
“The luxury traveler is absolutely resilient,” said Jeff Toscano, chief executive of Aspen Hospitality, a division of Aspen One.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
When he was young—before the government maize and tobacco estates arrived and cleared most of our trees—the forests were so dense a traveler could lose his sense of time and direction in them.
From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba
Several airlines offered travelers more flexibility to change their plans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
The travel disruptions were also creating uncertainty for LAX travelers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
About 80% of Road Scholar travelers are boomers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
High-speed boats ferrying tourists between idyllic islands have turned Odyssean for some travelers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The leshy, a forest spirit that looked like a man crossed with a tree, who would lead travelers astray until they died.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
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.
