passenger
Americannoun
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a person who is traveling in an automobile, bus, train, airplane, or other conveyance, especially one who is not the driver, pilot, or the like.
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a wayfarer; traveler.
noun
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a person travelling in a car, train, boat, etc, not driven by him
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( as modifier )
a passenger seat
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a member of a group or team who is a burden on the others through not participating fully in the work
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of passenger
1300–50; Middle English passager < Middle French, noun use of passag ( i ) er (adj.) passing, temporary; see passage 1, -ier 2; for -n- cf. messenger, harbinger, scavenger, popinjay
Explanation
A passenger is a person who rides in a vehicle. If you grab a ride home from school with your best friend, you are a passenger in her car. Everyone riding in a train, plane, bus, or any other vehicle is a passenger — except the driver, pilot, or crew. A passenger's only job is to ride along. In the fourteenth century, a passenger was simply a "passer-by," from the Old French passagier, "passing, fleeting, or traveling." The first instance of the modern use was recorded in the early 1500s.
Vocabulary lists containing passenger
Greetings, World Traveler! — List 1
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"Return to Titanic" and "Talking with Robert Ballard"
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 10–September 16, 2022
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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:
A passenger holds a Platform 9 3/4 ticket.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
In a directive Monday, the FAA proposed inspections of hundreds of Boeing 737 MAX jets over concerns that passenger seats were improperly installed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
On Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration released a preliminary directive ordering inspections on more than 450 US 737 MAX jets over potential faulty installation of passenger seats.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
Typhoon Noul made landfall in southern China on Sunday morning, lashing the region with strong winds and heavy rain and forcing Hong Kong airport to cancel around 360 passenger flights.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Alexandra Krivonogova, from the 125th Guards, flew passenger planes for twenty-five years and then became an air traffic controller.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
CEO Jason Liberty told analysts that the company is “effectively miniaturizing” some of its ocean ships to give river passengers what they get at sea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
As passengers chanted the incantation together, white light flashed through the carriage, and music swelled from the speakers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
The proposed airplane would seat about 250 passengers and fly about 5,000 nautical miles, fitting between the biggest narrowbodies and the smallest wide-bodies that Boeing and Airbus currently sell.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
It was the Hufflepuff who, with the help of passengers, vanquished the dementor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
She peered out at the passengers crowding the terminal: tired-looking families sprawled in seats, dark-suited businessmen sprinting down the aisle.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
