Word of the Day

: August 23, 2019

excursion

noun ik-SKER-zhun

What It Means

1 a : a going out or forth : expedition

b (1) : a usually brief pleasure trip

(2) : a trip at special reduced rates

2 : deviation from a direct, definite, or proper course; especially : digression

3 : a movement outward and back or from a mean position or axis; also : the distance traversed : amplitude

excursion in Context

Lewis Carroll's Through The Looking Glass is an excursion into a fantastical world where nothing is what it seems to be, and everything appears to be what it is not.

"Every morning for 10 years, Joey Gamez has hopped on a boat to take customers of his Golden State Sportfishing business on a San Francisco Bay excursion, a hobby-turned-business for the 42-year-old." — Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, The Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2019

Did You Know?

In Latin, the prefix ex- means "out of" and the verb currere means "to run." When the two are put together, they form the verb excurrere, literally "to run out" or "to extend." Excurrere gave rise not only to excursion but also to excurrent (an adjective for things having channels or currents that run outward) and excursus (meaning "an appendix or digression that contains further exposition of some point or topic"). Other words deriving from currere include corridor, curriculum, and among newer words, parkour.