DictionaryAI

visit

VIZ-it/ˈvɪzɪt/

Verbvisits, visiting, visited

Noun pluralvisits

7 meanings of visit

Practice

  1. 1
    go somewhereverbtransitive
    To go to a place for pleasure, to run an errand, or for some other purpose.

    They visit the coast every July to escape the city heat.

    She wants to visit three countries during her trip.

    UsageTakes a direct object: visit Paris (not incorrect: visit to Paris). The noun takes to: a visit to Paris.

    Similartour, see

  2. 2
    nouncountable
    An occasion of going to see a person or place, including an appointment for medical care.

    His visit to the capital was cut short by bad weather.

    Our first visit to the new science museum took the whole afternoon.

    UsageCommon in pay someone a visit and pay a visit to a place; also a visit to a place, a visit from someone.

    Similartrip, stay, call

  3. 3
    verbtransitive or intransitive
    To go to see someone and spend time with them, socially, for company, or to comfort them when they are ill or in trouble.

    She tries to visit her elderly neighbors at least once a week.

    Relatives from out of town visit during the holidays.

    UsageOften used in come to visit or visit with someone (North American).

    Similarsee

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To access a website or one of its pages and look at what it shows.

    Millions of people visit the weather service's site whenever a hurricane approaches.

    Anyone who visited the page that afternoon saw an error message instead of the menu.

    Similaraccess, check

    Note

    The web kept the language of travel, and this sense carries going to a place onto the screen: a website is a site you go to, at an address. It takes the site or page directly as its object, with no preposition, and it is the standard verb of calls to action such as visit our website for more information, where go to would sound more casual.

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    God comingverbtransitive
    Of God, to appear to someone in order to comfort, bless, chastise, or punish them.

    The prophets taught that the Lord visits his people in times of trial.

    They believed God would visit the nation with both blessing and judgment.

    Note

    A biblical sense, at home in the King James Bible of 1611: the Lord "hath visited and redeemed his people", or visited them "in giving them bread". A divine visit could bring blessing or judgment. The Germanic cousins show the same double edge, since Old Saxon wīsōn and archaic German weisen meant both "visit" and "afflict". Read older religious prose with both possibilities open.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. loc.gov
    • The biblical quotation about the Lord visiting and redeeming his people occurs in Luke 1:68, spoken by Zacharias. en.wikisource.org
    • Ruth 1:6 describes the Lord visiting his people by giving them bread. en.wikisource.org
    • Biblical divine visitation can signify judgment as well as blessing. en.wikisource.org
    • Old Saxon wīsōn and archaic German weisen are cognates of visit and have both visiting and afflicting meanings. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 6
    trouble strikesverbtransitive
    Of a sickness or misfortune, to afflict someone, coming upon them as a source of suffering.

    Every few winters the flu seems to visit our town, and half my class is out sick for a week.

    A wasting illness visited the household that winter.

    Similarafflict, strike, hit, befall, plague

    Note

    Here the visitor is the misfortune, and the sense is most at home in the passive: a household is visited with death. James George Frazer's The Golden Bough (1890) uses exactly that frame. This sense carries on the afflicting side of the divine sense, with sickness or disaster now doing the visiting.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • James George Frazer wrote The Golden Bough, first published in 1890. en.wikipedia.org
    • The Golden Bough's first publication year is 1890. en.wikipedia.org
    • The sickness or misfortune sense expresses affliction, sharing the punitive aspect of divine visitation. en.wiktionary.org
  3. 7
    verbtransitive
    To inflict harm, punishment, or vengeance on someone, typically in the construction 'visit something on/upon someone'.

    The court visited severe penalties upon those who broke the law.

    They vowed to visit vengeance on everyone responsible.

    Similarinflict, impose, wreak

    Note

    A classic setting is the sins of one generation being visited upon another, an echo of the biblical iniquity of the fathers visited upon the children.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The biblical reference describes the fathers' iniquity being visited upon their children. en.wikisource.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of visit apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Latin videō ("see") gave vīsō ("behold, survey"), and its frequentative vīsitō became Old French visiter and then Middle English visiten. The noun comes either from French visite or from the verb.