travel

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verb

trav·​el ˈtra-vəl 

traveled or travelled; traveling or travelling ˈtra-və-liŋ 

ˈtrav-liŋ

intransitive verb

1

a

: to go on or as if on a trip or tour : journey

b(1)

: to go as if by traveling : pass

the news traveled fast

(2)

: associate

travels with a sophisticated crowd

c

: to go from place to place as a sales representative or business agent

2

a(1)

: to move or undergo transmission from one place to another

goods traveling by plane

(2)

: to withstand relocation successfully

a dish that travels well

b

: to move in a given direction or path or through a given distance

the stylus travels in a groove

c

: to move rapidly

a car that can really travel

3

: to take more steps while holding a basketball than the rules allow

transitive verb

1

a

: to journey through or over

b

: to follow (a course or path) as if by traveling

2

: to traverse (a specified distance)

3

: to cover (an area) as a commercial traveler

travel

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noun

1

a

: the act of traveling : passage

b

: a journey especially to a distant or unfamiliar place : tour, trip

—often used in plural

2

travels plural : an account of one's travels

3

: the number traveling : traffic

4

a

: movement, progression

the travel of satellites around the earth

b

: the motion of a piece of machinery

especially : reciprocating motion

Phrases

travel light

: to travel with a minimum of equipment or baggage

Synonyms

Verb

• journey
• peregrinate
• pilgrimage
• tour
• trek
• trip
• voyage

Noun

• expedition
• journey
• passage
• peregrination
• trek
• trip

Examples of travel in a Sentence

Verb

The birds are traveling south for the winter.

His job requires him to travel frequently.

She enjoys traveling around Europe.

They traveled cross-country from New York to California.

The pain traveled down his back.

the way that sound travels in an empty room

That car was really traveling when it passed us.

The order is traveling by plane.

Noun

She doesn't enjoy foreign travel.

Air travel was affected by the storm.

The book discusses the future of travel in outer space.

We extended our travels for another week.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

President Joe Biden will travel to Arizona on Friday for a speech on tribal lands, where he is expected to formally apologize for the abuses committed against Native boarding school students over nearly 150 years. —Lorenzino Estrada, The Arizona Republic, 25 Oct. 2024

Katie Kelly Bell has been covering wine, spirits, food, and travel for Forbes since 2012. —Katie Kelly Bell, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2024

Noun

This is attributable in part to Serbia’s temporarily allowing Indian citizens visa-free travel, opening up opportunities for irregular entry into EU territory, but also reflects similar patterns elsewhere in the world. —Frey Lindsay, Forbes, 26 Oct. 2024

For the sake of a little fun, a moment of time travel: Twitter raised a $15 million Series B way back in 2008. —Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English travailen, travelen to torment, labor, strive, journey, from Anglo-French travailler

First Known Use

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing travel

• pre-travel
• see/travel the world
• travel agency
• travel agent
• travel bag
• travel sickness
• travel trailer

Kids Definition

travel

1 of 2 verb

trav·​el ˈtrav-əl 

traveled or travelled; traveling or travelling -(ə-)liŋ 

1

: to journey from place to place or to a distant place

2

: to move or advance from one place to another

the news traveled fast

travel

2 of 2 noun

1

a

: the act or means of traveling

air travel is fast

b

: journey entry 1, trip

—often used in plural

2

plural : an account of one's travels

Etymology

Verb

Middle English travailen "torment, labor, strive, journey," from early French travailler "torment, labor," from an unrecorded Latin verb tripaliare "to torture," from Latin tripalium "an instrument of torture," literally "three stakes," derived from tri- "three" and palus "stake, pale" — related to pale entry 3, travail

Word Origin

With our modern cars, ships, and airplanes and our many restaurants and hotels, travel today is not difficult. But in the Middle Ages roads were poor and places to eat and sleep were far apart. Travel was hard, uncomfortable work—even torture. In fact, our word travel comes from a Latin word that meant "torture." Many devices were used in the Middle Ages for torture in an effort to force confessions from persons accused of crimes. One of these devices, called in Latin a tripalium, gave us our word travel. The word tripalium, literally "three stakes," was derived from Latin tri-, meaning "three" and palus, meaning "stake, pale." This word is thought to have been the source of the Latin verb tripaliare, meaning "to torture." In early French the word became travailler, with both the meaning "to torment" and the meaning "to work hard." This early French word was taken into Middle English as travailen, with the meaning "to work hard" and "to travel." In time these two meanings became separated into different words, travail, which means "hard work," and travel, which means "to go on a trip."