passenger

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Someone who rides or travels in a vehicle, but who does not operate it and is not a member of the crew.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pasuhnjer

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpæsəndʒɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

One who rides or travels in a vehicle, but who does not operate it and is not a member of the crew.
A traveler riding in a vehicle (a boat or bus or car or plane or train etc) who is not operating it
informalchiefly uk
Somebody in a team who does not do their fair share of the work.
falconry
A young hunting bird that can fly and is taken while it is still in its first year.
A moth, Dysgonia algira

verb

intransitive
To ride as a passenger in a vehicle.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: One who rides or travels in a vehicle, but who does not operate it and is not a member of the crew.

Used this way, passenger is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: Matter-of-fact
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use passenger

“Each passenger must show their ticket before boarding the train.”

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Traveler

passenger seatpassenger train

Somebody

passenger servicepassenger transport

Ship

passenger ships

Other combinations

passenger carpassenger sidepassenger traffic

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

passenger carnounCompound term
A railcar where passengers ride.
passenger pigeonnounCompound term
Gregarious North American migratory pigeon now extinct.
passenger shipnounCompound term
A ship built to carry passengers.
passenger trainnounCompound term
A train that carries passengers.
passenger vannounCompound term
A van that carries passengers.
passenger vehiclenounCompound term
A vehicle carrying many passengers.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

freightnoun
baggagenoun
cargonoun
terminalnoun
locomotivenoun
commuternoun
depotnoun

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: one who rides or travels in a vehicle

rider

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.