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
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.
Breaking down in tears in court, Umar Ben Yusaf recalled asking someone close by to help, who carried an unconscious child out of the passenger seat and put them down on the grass verge.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
Retail sales of passenger cars in May fell 22.1% from a year earlier to 1.51 million units, the China Passenger Car Association said Monday.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
Its bosses say bigger planes would mean it could increase passenger numbers with fewer flights than with their current, smaller aircraft.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
According to IATA's calculations, net profit is expected to be $4.50 per passenger, half the 2025 figure.
From Barron's • Jun. 7, 2026
Dad glanced at her in the rearview mirror, probably deciding whether or not to scold her for language, but then she leaned forward, toward the passenger seat, so her breath tickled my ear.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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.
