visit

[ viz-it ]

verb (used with object)

1. to go to and stay with (a person or family) or at (a place) for a short time for reasons of sociability, politeness, business, curiosity, etc.:

   to visit a friend; to visit clients; to visit Paris.

2. to stay with as a guest.
3. to come or go to:

   to visit a church for prayer.

4. to go to for the purpose of official inspection or examination:

   a general visiting his troops.

5. to come to in order to comfort or aid:

   to visit the sick.

6. to come upon; assail; afflict:

   The plague visited London in 1665.

7. to cause trouble, suffering, etc., to come to:

   to visit him with sorrows.

8. to access, as a website.
9. to inflict, as punishment, vengeance, etc. (often followed by on or upon ).

verb (used without object)

1. to make a visit.
2. to talk or chat casually:

   to visit on the phone with a friend.

3. to inflict punishment.

noun

1. the act of or an instance of visiting:

   a nice, long visit.

2. a chat or talk:

   We had a good visit on the way back from the grocery store.

3. a call paid to a person, family, etc.
4. a stay or sojourn as a guest.
5. an official inspection or examination.
6. the act of an officer of a belligerent nation in boarding a vessel in order to ascertain the nature of its cargo, its nationality, etc.:

   the right of visit and search.

visit

/ ˈvɪzɪt /

verb

1. to go or come to see (a person, place, etc)
2. to stay with (someone) as a guest
3. to go or come to (an institution, place, etc) for the purpose of inspecting or examining
4. tr (of a disease, disaster, etc) to assail; afflict
5. tr; foll by upon or on to inflict (punishment, etc)

   the judge visited his full anger upon the defendant

6. archaic.
   trusually foll bywith to afflict or plague (with punishment, etc)
7. informal.
   often foll by with to chat or converse (with someone)

noun

1. the act or an instance of visiting
2. a stay as a guest
3. a professional or official call
4. a formal call for the purpose of inspection or examination
5. international law the right of an officer of a belligerent state to stop and search neutral ships in war to verify their nationality and ascertain whether they carry contraband

   the right of visit and search

6. informal.
   a friendly talk or chat

Derived Forms

• ˈvisitable, adjective

Other Words From

• inter·visit verb (used without object)
• non·visit·ing adjective
• pre·visit noun verb
• re·visit verb noun
• un·visit·ed adjective
• un·visit·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of visit¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English visiten (verb), from Old French visiter, from Latin vīsitāre “to see repeatedly,” from vīsere “to go to see,” from vidēre “to see”; noun derivative of the verb

Word History and Origins

Origin of visit¹

C13: from Latin vīsitāre to go to see, from vīsere to examine, from vidēre to see

Idioms and Phrases

see pay a call (visit) .

Example Sentences

About 18 percent of patients had one emergency visit to the hospital, nearly 7 percent had two visits, 3 percent had 3 visits, and 3.3 had four or more visits.

From Science Daily

"We need to do much more than provide these individuals a follow-up prenatal visit; our actions have to be timely and address root causes and fragmentation in the system to impact the layers of structural racism that we already know contribute to maternal morbidity."

From Science Daily

In other interviews, he’s said it’s too early to determine his position but that he will visit Lebanon in the coming weeks.

From Los Angeles Times

During a 2020 visit to Southern California, the then- and future-president met with organizers.

From Los Angeles Times

Viewers can also expect a visit from the stars of Gladiators, as well as a special performance from Strictly Come Dancing as the professionals are joined by cartoon character Bluey.

From BBC

Related Words

• appointment
• call
• holiday
• interview
• stay
• stop
• stopover
• talk
• vacation