visit
Americanverb (used with object)
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visits,
present (3rd person singular)
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visited,
past participle, past
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visiting
present participle
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to go to and stay with (a person or family) or at (a place) for a short time for reasons of sociability, politeness, business, curiosity, etc..
to visit a friend; to visit clients; to visit Paris.
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to stay with as a guest.
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to come or go to.
to visit a church for prayer.
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to go to for the purpose of official inspection or examination.
a general visiting his troops.
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to come to in order to comfort or aid.
to visit the sick.
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to come upon; assail; afflict.
The plague visited London in 1665.
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to cause trouble, suffering, etc., to come to.
to visit him with sorrows.
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to access, as a website.
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to inflict, as punishment, vengeance, etc. (often followed by on orupon ).
verb (used without object)
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visits,
present (3rd person singular)
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visited,
past participle, past
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visiting
present participle
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to make a visit.
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to talk or chat casually.
to visit on the phone with a friend.
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to inflict punishment.
noun
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visits
plural
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the act of or an instance of visiting.
a nice, long visit.
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a chat or talk.
We had a good visit on the way back from the grocery store.
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a call paid to a person, family, etc.
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a stay or sojourn as a guest.
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an official inspection or examination.
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the act of an officer of a belligerent nation in boarding a vessel in order to ascertain the nature of its cargo, its nationality, etc..
the right of visit and search.
verb
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to go or come to see (a person, place, etc)
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to stay with (someone) as a guest
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to go or come to (an institution, place, etc) for the purpose of inspecting or examining
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(tr) (of a disease, disaster, etc) to assail; afflict
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(tr; foll by upon or on) to inflict (punishment, etc)
the judge visited his full anger upon the defendant
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archaic to afflict or plague (with punishment, etc)
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informal (often foll by with) to chat or converse (with someone)
noun
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the act or an instance of visiting
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a stay as a guest
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a professional or official call
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a formal call for the purpose of inspection or examination
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international law the right of an officer of a belligerent state to stop and search neutral ships in war to verify their nationality and ascertain whether they carry contraband
the right of visit and search
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informal a friendly talk or chat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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previsitnoun
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revisitverb
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intervisitverb (used without object)
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nonvisitingadjective
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unvisitedadjective
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unvisitingadjective
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visitableadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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visitsimple
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visitssimple
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have visitedperfect
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has visitedperfect
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am visitingprogressive
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are visitingprogressive
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is visitingprogressive
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have been visitingperfect progressive
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has been visitingperfect progressive
Past
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visitedsimple
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had visitedperfect
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was visitingprogressive
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were visitingprogressive
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had been visitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of visit
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English visiten (verb), from Old French visiter, from Latin vīsitāre “to see repeatedly,” from vīsere “to go to see,” from vidēre “to see”; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
When you travel to another place, or spend some time at a friend's house, it's a visit. You should visit your grandmother! It's been a while since she's had a visit from you. Whenever you spend a temporary amount of time with another person or in another place, that's a visit — whether it's your visit to San Francisco or your visit to the doctor for a checkup. In some parts of the U.S., visit is also a name for a chat: "I had a nice visit with your Aunt Sylvia yesterday." And if you pay a visit to someone, you go see them for a while.
Vocabulary lists containing visit
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:
On other occasions, progress was measured in single digits: two people during one visit, five on another, eight on the next.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Almost immediately after I left, I started planning a return visit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in the Serbian capital Belgrade for his first visit.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
“Chinese civilization is both mysterious and incredible,” said Fang Qing, a 33-year-old real-estate professional from Changsha, who posed for pictures with an oversize Sanxingdui plushie during a visit to the site last month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
I didn’t have to worry about Mama paying me a visit because she was really put out with me.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Two blocks south, the program made five separate visits to Franklin and Cahuenga.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Over the past 18 months, MSF stopped regular visits to about 80 villages near the front where they had provided health services, says Meldrum.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data tracking ER visits for tick bites, which are the highest on record in almost every U.S. region since 2017.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
North America’s fast-food sector faces a tightening demand environment as price-leery consumers reduce their visits to restaurants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
“Mark Chesley…Boo’s father. He’s going to have two supervised visits with Boo. If they go well, she’s going to live with him,” she repeats, talking extra slowly this time.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
At the same time, she contends that her administration has made major strides, keeping about 80% of the locations visited by Inside Safe free of tents in recent weeks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
His company's latest data shows that of the 4,362 scans carried out on clients who visited Neko Health's Stockholm headquarters last year, 1.2% discovered life-threatening conditions such as melanoma and leukaemia.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Belafonte “often visited Janet Kennedy’s couch in the late afternoon, when their sessions could segue easily into cocktails and dinner” at the Kennedys’ elegant apartment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
The fire started Monday near Mount Bromo in East Java, one of Indonesia's most visited tourist destinations but now closed until further notice.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
She visited me sometimes, though we said very little.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
"For sure I will be visiting the stadium and getting my first impressions," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Villarreal: How many times is she visiting the set?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
One reason for his primary win is that he simply outworked Stevens, visiting over 110 cities, according to his campaign, holding over 500 public events and, in the process, building a genuine movement.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
Blanche has taken steps to curry Murkowski’s favor in recent months, visiting Alaska and announcing a $400-million settlement benefiting Alaska natives’ healthcare in July.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
“I’m visiting all of them, actually. One every week.”
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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.
