visitor
Americannoun
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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:
DePree's plans included a wedding venue, hotel accommodation and visitor attractions aimed at bringing the hall back to life.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
It often starts with helping one visitor take a picture and ends with a long queue.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
A new PGA Tour golf tournament made its debut in the city this month, helping lift visitor revenue during the important fall tourism push, the county’s tourism authority said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Every visitor must exit through the Blood Room, a gruesomely immersive space whose walls are streaked, smeared, splattered and practically dripping with the red stuff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
We add our own stories, each visitor, each visit, each night spent at the circus.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
The city also attracts about 1.7 million overseas visitors each year.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Standing still for the museum’s visitors can get a little “boringum,” he explains—certainly nothing compared to watching gladiators back home.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Water restrictions are also in place for residents and visitors.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
They conducted the study in two valleys in Kedarnath Musk Deer Sanctuary in Uttarakhand - at Chopta, a tourist spot with busy traffic and visitors, and the largely quiet Madmaheshwar.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Despite the recent rationing of sugar, tires, gas, tea, and coffee, a big turnout of visitors was expected in the coastal towns that summer.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
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.
