visitor
Americannoun
-
visitors
plural
noun
-
a person who pays a visit; caller, guest, tourist, etc
-
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:
Similarly, Canadian visitor numbers to the United States plunged more than 25 percent from 2024 to 2025, Knightley noted.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Created by master designers such as Lancelot "Capability" Brown and William Kent, the gardens of stately homes such as Hampton Court, Blenheim Palace, and Chatsworth House are among England's top visitor attractions.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
A French visitor to California has died after his vehicle broke down on a remote road in scorching Death Valley heat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
AIA management says policies for offshore capital controls and taxation have been in place for a long time but the latter has largely not been a concern for the Chinese mainland visitor segment, he notes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
I knew it was probably nothing, just some visitor, but that Agnes had made me nervous.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
On Saturday, visitors alerted staff after spotting 10 Nile crocodiles hatching without any human intervention.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Those tours, with National Audubon Society narration, attract about 10,000 paying visitors a year, at $71 for adults.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
But the excitement shared by visitors and the veterinary team quickly gave way to concern.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
“It’s not equitable, it’s taking resources from the community, local businesses and visitors, and it’s just come to a head.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
The chief and elders sent the gong-gong beater to every corner of the village, and everyone gathered to hear what the visitors had to say.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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.
