trip
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A journey for some purpose.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tripIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɹɪp
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A journey for some purpose (usually including the return)
“He took a trip to the shopping center.”
A journey; an excursion or jaunt.
colloquial
A period of time in which one experiences drug-induced reverie or hallucinations.
An accidental misstep threatening (or causing) a fall
A stumble or misstep.
A faux pas, a social error.
verb
intransitive
To fall over or stumble over an object as a result of striking it with one's foot
transitivesometimes followed by "up"
To cause (a person or animal) to fall or stumble by knocking their feet from under them.
“The questions on the test tripped him up.”
intransitive
To be guilty of a misstep or mistake; to commit an offence against morality, propriety, etc
Of an electrical circuit, to trip out (through overload, a short circuit).
transitive
To activate or set in motion, as in the activation of a trap, explosive, or switch.
intransitive
To experience a state of reverie or to hallucinate, due to consuming psychoactive drugs.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A journey for some purpose (usually including the return)
Used this way, trip is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“He took a trip to the shopping center.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “trip to …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: trip to …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Journeynoun
“He took a trip to the shopping center.”
Fall / causeverb
“The questions on the test tripped him up.”
More ways to use trip
- “He took a trip to the shopping center.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A light rope used in lumbering to free a dog hook from a log at a distance.
Get high, stoned, or drugged.
Move in a pattern.
Move in a pattern.
An unintentional but embarrassing blunder.
A small military force that serves as a first line of defense.
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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.