visitor
Americannoun
-
visitors
plural
noun
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a person who pays a visit; caller, guest, tourist, etc
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another name for visitant
Synonym Usage
Visitor, caller, guest, visitant are terms for a person who comes to spend time with or stay with others, or in a place. A visitor often stays some time, for social pleasure, for business, sightseeing, etc.: a visitor at our neighbor's house. A caller comes for a brief (usually) formal visit: The caller merely left her card. A guest is anyone receiving hospitality, and the word has been extended to include anyone who pays for meals and lodging: a welcome guest; a hotel guest. Visitant applies especially to a migratory bird or to a supernatural being: a warbler as a visitant.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of visitor
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English visitour, from Anglo-French; Old French visiteor, from Late Latin vīsitātor, equivalent to Latin vīsitā(re) “to go to see, visit” ( see visit) + -tor -tor
Explanation
A visitor is someone who is in a place temporarily. If you spend a week on an island during the summer, you're a visitor there, unlike the people who live on the island year-round. When you visit someone, you're a visitor in their home, and if someone visits your school, whether to put on a puppet show or a book fair or a presentation about safety, they're a visitor too. It's also common to refer to an opposing sports team as visitors when they come to play on your team's home turf — but when your team travels for an away game, you're the visitors.
Vocabulary lists containing visitor
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:
The young Pacheco character showed the visitor to his guest room, and kicked some saddle bags out of the way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
Astronomers have detected subtle changes in the star's shape that suggest something is moving through its outer layers, disturbing the surrounding gas like an unseen visitor making noise inside a house.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2026
A lack of visitor parking can cause problems for those who live in the village, she says, as they can end up dodging cars that "are parked not the way they should be".
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
"Do we adapt the visit to the ritual, or does the ritual adapt to the visitor?"
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
Herr Friedrick Thiessen receives an unexpected visitor in his Munich workshop, an Englishman by the name of Mr. Ethan Barris.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Planned to accommodate about 5 million annual visitors, the Louvre as it currently stands was visited by some 9 million people in 2025, and has had over 10 million in years past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
On the Sunshine Coast, visitors regularly stop to take photos next to The Big Pineapple, a heritage-listed 16m-tall fibreglass model of the fruit, which has become a local landmark.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
The Olympic Games are less than two years away, and the sheriff’s department will be expected to play a major role in keeping millions of visitors and athletes safe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
Dozens of visitors have begun flocking to a new museum opened by Iraq's Jewish community, the first of its kind, amid ongoing efforts by the minority to preserve its heritage.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
“Unfortunately, due to flooding from the tropical storm, the airport has been shut down for two weeks now. Our only visitors are coming from cruise ships.”
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
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