sojourn
Americannoun
-
sojourns
plural
verb (used without object)
-
sojourns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sojourned,
past participle, past
-
sojourning
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sojournsimple
-
sojournssimple
-
have sojournedperfect
-
has sojournedperfect
-
am sojourningprogressive
-
are sojourningprogressive
-
is sojourningprogressive
-
have been sojourningperfect progressive
-
has been sojourningperfect progressive
Past
-
sojournedsimple
-
had sojournedperfect
-
was sojourningprogressive
-
were sojourningprogressive
-
had been sojourningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sojourn
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English verb sojurnen, Old French sojorner “to rest, stay,” from unattested Vulgar Latin subdiurnāre “to stay for a time,” a compound of the preposition and prefix sub, sub-, here meaning “a little, for a while” and the Latin verb diurnāre “to live for a long time,” a derivative of the Latin adjective diurnus “belonging to the daytime, occurring every day”; noun derivative of the verb; see journey
Explanation
A sojourn is a short stay or visit. If you want a fancy way to say that you took a trip to the countryside, you might talk about your country sojourn. The verb is originally from the Latin prefix sub-, "under" plus diurnus, "of a day." You might refer to your vacation as a sojourn, but it might make more sense if you are describing a trip to Provence rather than a trip to Disney World. Or In figurative use, sojourn means "to delve" — your math teacher may stop midway through lessons on fractions for a brief sojourn into techniques for slicing pie.
Vocabulary lists containing sojourn
Grade 10, List 5
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 14–18
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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.
See Examples For:
The Odyssey promised passengers a yearslong sojourn, but then its owner ran out of money when fuel prices soared.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Beyond a couple of scuff marks and some debris jammed into the treads, our sojourn had left the shoes looking much as they had when I’d first taken them off the shelf.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
Plans for at least two weddings were being discussed by staff during our sojourn.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
Those uprisings, later coined the Arab Spring, succeeded in bringing about a short democratic sojourn in Tunisia and a much briefer one in Egypt, but they also unleashed unrest.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
The train stood waiting, stocked for a long sojourn in the East.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
It would be interesting to see what creative inspirations the Europeans brought back from their American sojourns in addition to novel crops and precious metals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Tilford advises making wildflower sojourns as soon as sightings come in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
During British rule, the naan remained a food item enjoyed by the elite, but it also travelled to the West through the sojourns of English travellers.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
We have him to thank, then, for the series’ sojourns to the deck of 19th century pirate Zheng Yi Sao’s ship and the Trojan War.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2024
Other than during his sojourns in England, Haydn’s long career was mosdy unaffected by what the public thought of his music.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
So he wandered out of the facility and sojourned down Pacific Coast Highway to make his way to Barney’s Beanery, the famous bar he frequented in West Hollywood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2022
Species of fish, unfit for human consumption, were food for various vulnerable migratory birds that sojourned along its banks.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 12, 2022
Inside was a mixed-media painting of storks nesting on a minaret, made by an artist who had sojourned in Bhalil for a month.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 29, 2019
Scores of friends and family already have sojourned to Utah to pay their respects to a man who planted in them a passion for the explosive cacophony of color, variety and fragrance found in nature.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 6, 2015
All night long Sarai had sojourned in dreamscapes wholly alien to her.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Part of this is in the rich tradition of European reporters sojourning in the United States who find casual grotesques about Americans far more lucrative and less taxing than actually trying to meet the natives.
From Slate ● Mar. 10, 2026
Moreover, a little solo sojourning is good for all of us.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2025
He spent much of his adult life in Michigan, moving up through the ranks of the state Legislature and serving as the speaker pro tem twice before sojourning to Arizona.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2024
Between courses, she explored on her own, staying with friends and relatives or sojourning in hostels and hotels.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 22, 2018
Mom soon developed a complex about her cooking, which persisted until summer when I went directly home after receiving treatments, instead of sojourning at Sharon's, and ate my Mom's culinary offering passionately.
From Through these Eyes The courageous struggle to find meaning in a life stressed with cancer by Lauren Ann Isaacson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
