usher
noun
a person who escorts people to seats in a theater, church, etc.
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usher
1 American
[uhsh-er]
/ ˈʌʃ ər /
noun
-
ushers
plural
-
a person who escorts people to seats in a theater, church, etc.
-
a person acting as an official doorkeeper, as in a courtroom or legislative chamber.
-
a male attendant of a bridegroom at a wedding.
-
an officer whose business it is to introduce strangers or to walk before a person of rank.
-
British Archaic. a subordinate teacher or an assistant in a school.
verb (used with object)
-
ushers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ushered,
past participle, past
-
ushering
present participle
-
to act as an usher to; lead, introduce, or conduct.
She ushered them to their seats.
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to attend or bring at the coming or beginning; precede or herald (usually followed byin ).
to usher in the new theater season.
verb (used without object)
-
ushers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ushered,
past participle, past
-
ushering
present participle
Usher
2
American
[uhsh-er]
/ ˈʌʃ ər /
noun
usher
1
British
/ ˈʌʃə /
noun
-
an official who shows people to their seats, as in a church or theatre
-
a person who acts as doorkeeper, esp in a court of law
-
(in England) a minor official charged with maintaining order in a court of law
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an officer responsible for preceding persons of rank in a procession or introducing strangers at formal functions
-
obsolete a teacher
verb
-
to conduct or escort, esp in a courteous or obsequious way
-
(usually foll by in) to be a precursor or herald (of)
Usher
2
British
/ ˈʌʃə /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ushersimple
-
usherssimple
-
have usheredperfect
-
has usheredperfect
-
am usheringprogressive
-
are usheringprogressive
-
is usheringprogressive
-
have been usheringperfect progressive
-
has been usheringperfect progressive
Past
-
usheredsimple
-
had usheredperfect
-
was usheringprogressive
-
were usheringprogressive
-
had been usheringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of usher
1350–1400; Middle English uscher doorkeeper < Anglo-French usser, Old French ( h ) uissier doorman, officer of justice < Vulgar Latin *ustiārius, equivalent to Latin ōsti ( um ) door + -ārius -ary; see -er 2
Explanation
That guy who guided you to your seat? He's called an usher. You most often see ushers at movie theaters and weddings. An usher is someone with the job of helping people find their seats. At the movies, ushers take your tickets and tell you where to go. At some theaters and sports venues, the ushers might actually take you to your seat — they usher you there. If you're an usher in a wedding party, it's your job to walk guests down the aisle and to their seats. The doorkeeper at a courtroom or legislative chamber is called an usher, too.
Vocabulary lists containing usher
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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:
With this new test, SpaceX hopes to usher in an "exciting new phase" of development that will include, among other things, tests of refueling the rocket in orbit.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
Tesla built hype ahead of the Cybercab event, which Musk said would usher in a “storm of Cybercabs” across Austin, Texas.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
The show famously had an early ally in Lucille Ball, who, through her Desilu Productions, helped usher “Star Trek” through two pilots before NBC picked it up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Series eight contestant Paris Baby feels the new season will usher in a "drag renaissance"
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
An usher, however, had clearly seen the banner and hurried over to remove it.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
The Delevingne sisters decorated the 1955-midcentury property together before handing the keys over to Usher.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Brown is currently performing with Usher on their joint North American stadium tour.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Brown is performing with Usher on their joint North American stadium tour.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Karen Usher was 21 when she joined the Royal Air Force in 1990, and says years of feeling forced to hide her sexuality left her suffering a "mini-breakdown" while deployed in Italy.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Without the title of Deadwood Usher, without the cottage and cloak and mushroom garden, what was left of him?
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
The formal declaration of Fujimori's win brings one of Peru's tightest leadership contests of all time to a close and ushers in the Andean nation's ninth president in a decade.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Other kindly ushers, who had directed people to an adjacent section after Section 535 filled up, politely asked everyone to please put their shirts back on before returning to the general stadium population.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
Political analyst Dr Levy Ndou said Hill-Lewis' election, alongside other young leaders in the party, "ushers in a new era" and could be a "very good thing" for the organisation.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
The new year ushers in bigger paychecks for many workers — but those wage increases may not feel so impressive as prices also increase.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 6, 2026
She reads it and ushers us straight out the back door and into the rear seat of a car.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
Explosive relationship scandals have ushered in a new era of reality TV intrigue in recent years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
After the second World War, Enver Hoxha ushered in a severely isolated and repressive Communist regime.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
The all-rounder's retirement not only ushered in Joe Root's second spell as skipper, but also left England looking for a way to balance their XI.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
The model was so successful that it ushered in a whole offseason of win-or-bust moves as teams mustered the courage to take greater risks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
But when he was ushered into the fancy reception area to wait for his appointment, he was unaware that there was a hidden microphone and spy hole nearby so that Kappe could monitor him.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
Many considered Winkleman, 54, to be chat show emperor Graham Norton's presumptive successor - not least because he seemed to be ushering her through himself.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The president signed a raft of executive orders last year with an aim of ushering in a nuclear-energy “renaissance.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
He’s uniquely responsible for ushering in an age of barbarism and will spend the rest of his life making amends in the fallen world he helped create.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
At the same time, SpaceX in 2015 successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket, ushering in the age of partially reusable rockets.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
That his ushering gift had been stripped from him completely.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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.
