ticket

TIK-it/ˈtɪk.ɪt/

14 meanings of ticket

1
entry passnouncountable
A printed or electronic pass that lets the holder enter an event or place, or travel on a train, bus, plane, or other vehicle, usually after paying.
He scanned his ticket at the stadium gate and found his seat.
Concert tickets went on sale Friday morning and disappeared within minutes.
UsageA ticket to or for an event or place; a ticket for a particular show, date or train.
2
traffic finenouncountable
An official notice, given by a police officer or other official, charging someone with a traffic offense.
The officer wrote her a ticket for running the red light.
Unpaid parking tickets can lead to a suspended license.
UsageYou get a ticket for speeding or parking; an officer gives or writes you one.
Similarcitation, summons
3
election listnouncountable
A list of candidates running together in an election, or the central theme of a candidate's platform.
She joined the governor's ticket as the candidate for lieutenant governor.
He campaigned on a law-and-order ticket in the primary.
UsageCandidates run on a ticket or join one; on a law-and-order ticket names the cause they campaign for.
Similarslate, platform
Note
Political usage built on the idea of a list. The ticket is the set of candidates a party puts forward together, as on a presidential ticket or the Democratic ticket. With a theme attached, as in an anti-crime ticket, the word shifts from the people to the cause they campaign for.
4
lotterynouncountable
A certificate or token representing a share in a lottery or other scheme for distributing money or goods.
The winning ticket was sold at a gas station outside Tulsa.
Raffle tickets for the school fundraiser cost two dollars each.
5
support requestnouncountable
A service request used to track a complaint or reported issue until it is resolved.
Submit a ticket through the support portal and an engineer will respond within a day.
The system automatically assigns new tickets to the next available technician.
UsageYou open, submit or raise a ticket; support staff assign, work on and close it.
Similarrequest, case
Note
A help-desk word: a reported problem becomes a ticket once it is logged, and it is tracked until someone resolves it. Keep it apart from the traffic citation: nobody is penalized here, and a ticket can be raised by the person needing help or by an agent on their behalf.
6
way to successnounfigurativelycountable
The thing that solves a problem; exactly what is needed in a given situation.
For beating the afternoon slump, a short walk is just the ticket.
Investors decided that a smaller, cheaper model was the ticket for emerging markets.
UsageUsually just the ticket or that's the ticket; the ticket to something is a way to get it (the ticket to success).
Similaranswer, solution
Note
A figurative use, often in set phrases such as that's the ticket and just the ticket, or with to, as in a first bike seen as a ticket to freedom. Mark Twain uses it in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) for the moment a hole turns out big enough for Jim to get through: "Here's the ticket."

Less common meanings

7
verbtransitive
To provide someone with a travel ticket, or to serve them with a ticket for breaking a traffic law or local ordinance.
City officers ticket hundreds of illegally parked cars every week.
The airline ticketed the passengers through to their final destination.
UsageOften passive: drivers get ticketed or are ticketed for speeding or parking.
Similarcite, book
8
price tagnouncountable
A small tag or label on merchandise giving its price, size, or other details.
Every item on the rack carried a ticket listing its price and size.
The clerk wrote out fresh tickets for the goods in the window display.
Similarlabel, tag, sticker
Note
The label sense keeps the idea of sticking that runs through the word's history, told under the old "small note" meaning. Here the ticket is attached to the thing it describes and gives its price or description. Shop staff use the verb for putting it there. The ticket tells you about the goods, whereas a theater or train ticket says what its holder may do.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
The word's etymology connects its note or label meaning with attaching or sticking. en.wiktionary.org
9
price tagverbtransitive
To mark or label goods with a ticket.
Staff ticket new merchandise as soon as it arrives from the warehouse.
Each crate was ticketed with its weight and destination.
Similarlabel, tag, mark
10
work certificatenouncountable
An official certificate showing that someone is qualified for a job, such as operating machinery on a site or serving as a ship's officer.
Site rules require a valid ticket for anyone operating the excavator.
She renewed her forklift ticket before starting the new job.
11
warrantnounslangcountable
A warrant authorizing police action, such as an arrest or a search.
Similarwarrant
Note
Police slang, heard on the job rather than read in court papers. In Doug Most's Always in Our Hearts (1999), an officer asks for a ticket, and the narration explains at once that a ticket meant a search warrant. Since officers also write traffic citations, context does the sorting: a ticket you need from a judge is a warrant. Formal writing uses warrant.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Doug Most wrote Always in Our Hearts, first published in 1999. en.wikipedia.org
The book depicts an officer requesting a ticket, immediately explained by the narration as a search warrant. en.wiktionary.org
12
noticenoundatedcountable
A small written note or posted notice.
He constantly read his lectures twice a week for above forty years, giving notice of the time to his auditors in a ticket on the school doors.
a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England
Similarnotice, note, sign
Note
The broad sense the narrower ones grew from, and the one closest to the word's origin. It goes back through Middle Scots to Middle French etiquet, "a bill, note, label," and Old French "to attach, stick." A ticket was a note fixed up somewhere. Thomas Fuller, writing before 1662, describes a lecturer giving notice of his hours in a ticket on the school doors. The sense is now dated, and note or notice does the job today.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Ticket derives through Middle Scots from Middle French etiquet, with meanings including bill, note and label, ultimately from an Old French verb meaning to attach or stick. en.wiktionary.org
Historically, a ticket could be a notice affixed somewhere. en.wikisource.org
Fuller wrote the passage before 1662; his Worthies of England appeared posthumously that year. en.wikipedia.org
Fuller describes a lecturer announcing lecture times in a ticket on the school doors. en.wikisource.org
13
shop billnoundatedcountable
A tradesman's bill or running account of money owed.
The blacksmith added the repair to the farmer's ticket.
Your courtier is mad to take up silks and velvets / On ticket for his mistress.
1633, Shackerley Marmion, A Fine Companion
Similartab, bill, account
Note
Shopkeeping credit kept on paper. To buy on ticket meant having the cost entered in a tradesman's account to be settled later, and the phrase was eventually clipped to on tick. Shackerley Marmion's A Fine Companion (1633) mocks the courtier who is mad to take up silks and velvets on ticket for his mistress. The account sense itself is dated, and the shorter phrase is the descendant a reader is likelier to meet.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Buying on ticket meant obtaining goods on credit, recorded in a tradesman's bill or account for later settlement. en.wiktionary.org
Tick is a clipping of ticket in the credit sense. en.wiktionary.org
Shackerley Marmion wrote A Fine Companion, first printed in 1633. en.wikipedia.org
The play mocks a courtier buying silks and velvets on ticket for his mistress. en.wiktionary.org
14
name cardnoundatedcountable
A visiting card; a small card bearing one's name, presented when calling on someone.
He sent up his ticket and waited in the parlor to be received.
"Mr. Gibbs come in just now," said Mrs. Blewett, "and left his ticket over the chimley. There 'tis. I haven't touched it."
1899, The Leisure Hour: An Illustrated Magazine for Home Reading
Similarcard
Note
Nineteenth-century social calls had their own paperwork: the card a visitor sent up or left behind. Mrs. James Mason's All about Edith (1878) puts card and ticket side by side, when a caller asked for a card retorts that she doesn't require tickets to get in. In The Leisure Hour (1899), Mr. Gibbs leaves his ticket over the "chimley." The sense is dated, so use it for period color and say card otherwise.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Nineteenth-century callers sent up visiting cards or left them behind. gutenberg.org
Mrs. James Mason wrote All about Edith, published in 1878. static.lib.ou.edu
The novel juxtaposes card and ticket when a woman asked for a card says she does not require tickets to enter the homes she visits. en.wiktionary.org
The Leisure Hour quotation is dated 1899 and reports that Mr. Gibbs left his ticket over the chimley; Mrs. Blewett speaks the line. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

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Origin

Borrowed from Middle Scots tikket, from Middle French etiquet and etiquette ('a bill, note, label'), from Old French estechier ('to attach, stick'), ultimately from a Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to be sharp, to pierce'. It is a doublet of 'etiquette'.

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

Ticket was borrowed from Middle Scots tikket. en.wiktionary.org
The Middle Scots word derives from Middle French etiquet and etiquette, meaning a bill, note or label. en.wiktionary.org
The French words derive from Old French estechier, meaning to attach or stick. en.wiktionary.org
The ultimate ancestry includes Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European roots associated with sharpness and piercing. en.wiktionary.org
Ticket and etiquette are doublets. en.wiktionary.org