voyage
Americannoun
-
a course of travel or passage, especially a long journey by water to a distant place.
- Synonyms:
- cruise
-
a passage through air or space, as a flight in an airplane or space vehicle.
-
a journey or expedition from one place to another by land.
-
Often voyages. journeys or travels as the subject of a written account, or the account itself.
the voyages of Marco Polo.
-
Obsolete. an enterprise or undertaking.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a journey, travel, or passage, esp one to a distant land or by sea or air
-
obsolete an ambitious project
verb
Synonym Usage
See trip 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
voyagesimple
-
voyagessimple
-
have voyagedperfect
-
has voyagedperfect
-
am voyagingprogressive
-
are voyagingprogressive
-
is voyagingprogressive
-
have been voyagingperfect progressive
-
has been voyagingperfect progressive
Past
-
voyagedsimple
-
had voyagedperfect
-
was voyagingprogressive
-
were voyagingprogressive
-
had been voyagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of voyage
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English ve(i)age, viage, voyage, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin viāticum “travel-money”; see viaticum
Explanation
If someone tells you "bon voyage!" they mean have a good trip. Voyage means trip in French but in English, we use it to mean a long journey. Though voyage is usually used literally to mean a long and exciting journey or a trip that involves sailing such as a cruise, it can be used figuratively as well. Researching your family tree might become a voyage of self-discovery, taking you places you don't expect and teaching you more about yourself than you thought possible.
Vocabulary lists containing voyage
Words Every Pirate Should Know
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The Mayflower Compact (1620)
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Greetings, World Traveler! — List 3
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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:
The guests reported mild gastrointestinal illness during a 20-day voyage that departed from San Francisco on June 12, a spokesperson for Princess Cruises wrote in an email.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
When hostilities eased, crew members were asked to sign documents confirming they were willing to undertake the voyage.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Although tankers are making it out of the strait, the voyage to unload crude at their destinations and back to pick up another load can take months.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
“War-risk premiums can add a significant incremental cost to a voyage, particularly when both premium rates and cargo values increase,” said Marvin.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026
Just as Grandfather promises, the voyage to Constantinople goes smoothly.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
He called for future submersible voyages to find more whale graveyards across the world.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
They collectively earned hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from voyages that included a stop in Havana, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
The overwhelming majority of voyages conclude without major health incidents, though Schaffner said the realities of modern travel mean some level of infectious disease exposure is always possible anywhere large groups of people gather.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026
So far, about two dozen waiver voyages have been reported complete as of April 30, according to the Maritime Administration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
And as for future voyages, I’ve grown accustomed to the nature of this ship and these waters.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Taking thousands of images and recording audio descriptions of bleak beauty of the lunar surface as it passed beneath them, the crew eventually voyaged 252,756 miles from Earth.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026
Testing the technique in fruit flies, the researchers found that 51 proteins voyaged from the animals’ muscles to their heads and 269 moved from the fat body, the insects’ main energy storehouse, to their legs.
From Science Magazine ● May 22, 2024
We had voyaged 46 days from the winter solstice, and toward the brightness of spring.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 5, 2022
A couple hundred years ago, a traveler may have noticed breads growing distinctly flatter as she voyaged north through Europe.
From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2022
In his opinion the man most likely to have news would be Menelaus, who had voyaged all the way to Egypt before coming home.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
So we get why Ross opts to normalize voyaging alone instead of speaking to common fears about it.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2025
Unsure what it would be like voyaging with so many youngsters, she booked a short four-day journey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2024
After Charles Darwin happened across “vast rings of coral-rock” while voyaging through the southern Pacific Ocean on the Beagle, he wrote that upon seeing them, “everyone must be struck with astonishment.”
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 22, 2023
The news outlet noted that Justice Thomas has taken 38 destination vacations that included voyaging on a yacht, traveling via private jets and even helicopters.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 10, 2023
In the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay, the voyaging Charles Darwin discovered hundreds of square miles strangled by feral artichoke.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
