ubiquitous
Americanadjective
adjective
Related Words
See omnipresent.
Other Word Forms
- nonubiquitary adjective
- nonubiquitous adjective
- nonubiquitously adverb
- nonubiquitousness noun
- ubiquitously adverb
- ubiquitousness noun
- ubiquity noun
- unubiquitous adjective
- unubiquitously adverb
- unubiquitousness noun
Etymology
Origin of ubiquitous
First recorded in 1830–40; ubiquit(y) + -ous
Explanation
It's everywhere! It's everywhere! When something seems like it's present in all places at the same time, reach for the adjective ubiquitous. "Cities like Singapore aim to cloak themselves in ubiquitous, free Wi-Fi in the next few years," The Wall Street Journal reported recently — meaning that those savvy Singaporeans will find a wireless connection everywhere they go. The word comes from the Latin ubique, meaning — you guessed it — "everywhere." The usual pronunciation is "yoo-BIK-wih-tihs," but Joseph Heller must have had the older variant "ooh-BIK-wih-tihs" in mind when he wrote in Catch-22 that a character "padded through the shadows fruitlessly like an ubiquitous spook."
Vocabulary lists containing ubiquitous
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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Vocabulary from "Stop Expecting Games to Build Empathy" by Julie Muncy
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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.
"These microbes are ubiquitous; they already live in soil everywhere," said Northwestern's George Wells, a senior author on the study.
From Science Daily • Apr. 19, 2026
As chatbots and agents grow more powerful and ubiquitous, recognizing the moments when they go rogue can be tricky.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
But I think the themes are pretty ubiquitous, you know.
From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026
Though advertisements for banks and other financial institutions are ubiquitous, they rarely mention money itself.
From Salon • Mar. 24, 2026
In the total telling, it made him at once the most mobile and ubiquitous private in the history of warfare.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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.
