visit
/ˈvɪzɪt
/verb (visits, visiting, visited) [with object]
1Go to see and spend time with (someone) socially: I came to visit my grandmother [no object]: North American he went out to visit with his pals...
- She plans to spend her retirement visiting her son and grandson in Durham and sightseeing around the countryside.
- Georgie rode out to visit with Tess, though I'm sure she'll come by to visit you and Olivia, as well.
- It is the first time Sue has been back to the UK since moving away and she will be spending two weeks visiting old friends and sight-seeing.
Synonyms
call on, call in on, pay a call on, pay a visit to, pay someone a call, pay someone a visit, go to see, come to see, look in on;
stay with, spend time with, be the guest of, holiday with;
stop by, drop by, pay a call, pay a visit, come to stay;
North American visit with, go see
informal pop in on, drop in on, blow in on, drop round to see, look up
1.1Stay temporarily with (someone) or at (a place) as a guest or tourist: they would like to visit Oxford [no object]: I don’t live here—I’m only visiting...
- Despite the fact we still travel abroad twice as much as inbound tourists visit us, holidays at home are hard to beat.
- From that Christmas, Jonathan promised to visit Perry and stay with him in his Ghana home for the festive season.
- Then a few days before my tenth he visited me and stayed until my birthday when he gave me this necklace and left.
Synonyms
stay in, stop over in, spend time in, holiday in;
tour, drive round, go round, explore;
see, view, inspect, survey, examine;
North American vacation in
1.2 [no object] North American informal Chat: there was nothing to do but visit with one another...
- But the governor had asked to come and visit with him, and he came to the house and they visited for several hours.
- The chief prosecutor said he had seen no sign of torture in his visits with the defendants.
- Grandma and Grandpa would pick a nice parking place on the street and sit there all evening visiting with friends and neighbors.
2Go to see (someone or something) for a specific purpose, such as to give or receive professional advice: inspectors visit all the hotels...
- All the hotels in the guide were visited by a professional inspector and the entries were written between April and June this year.
- Thornton's restaurant has two Michelin stars, an accolade which involves the restaurant receiving up to nine visits a year from Michelin inspectors.
- But men who are reluctant to see their GP about ‘normal’ balding can soothe their distress by visiting a trichologist for advice and treatment.
2.1 (as adjective visiting) (Of an academic) working for a fixed period of time at another institution: a visiting professor...
- Dr Sheng Zhang, who arrived at the Institute in 1999 as a visiting academic from Beijing Municipal Chemical Industry Research Institute, will head the project team.
- He was a visiting lecturer or professor at several universities and won various academic awards.
- He had worked there as a visiting academic since 1992 and was on a three-week working trip to the country.
2.2Access and view (a website or web page): high entertainment value is one good reason to visit the site’s ultra-cool home page...
- The URL for the unprotected page could be determined by visiting a Dealerskins-hosted website and viewing the HTML source code - a simple matter in most browsers.
- I visited the Microsoft download web site in search of Media Player 9, and I found these comments.
- Microsoft stole AOL's crown as the most visited Website destination for home surfers in August.
2.3(Chiefly in biblical use) (of God) come to (a person or place) in order to bring comfort or salvation: He shall visit earth in mercy...
- ‘In that hour of dire need, I wasn't visited by God or his burning bush,’ he writes.
- It had been at least a season since she was visited by the God of Time.
- One night in this time of misery a god visited the man in a dream and told him to await the arrival of a very wise individual, who would come to the island.
3Inflict (something harmful or unpleasant) on someone: the mockery visited upon him by his schoolmates...
- In the final scene, in which the lovers finally come within touching distance, it is Miriam who intervenes to prevent the cruelties of Yair's father from being visited upon his own son.
- With a clear conscience, every health guru can take a good kick at the unhealthy, King Size Mars bars guzzling masses who are apparently asking for the wrath of diabetes to be visited upon them.
- Another explanation was needed for the cataclysm that was visited upon Great Heck that bitter winter's morning of February 28, 2001.
Synonyms
happen to, overtake, befall, come upon, fall upon, hit, strike
3.1(Of something harmful or unpleasant) afflict (someone): they were visited with epidemics of a strange disease...
- God promised he would release them from slavery, but not before Pharaoh had refused their release and God had visited ten plagues on Egypt to demonstrate his power.
Synonyms
afflict, attack, assail, trouble, harrow, torment, torture;
descend on
archaic smite
3.2 archaic Punish (a person or wrongful act): offences were visited with the loss of eyes or ears...
- Public offences were visited with public penance; private offences were confessed to the priest.
noun
1An act of going to see a person or place as a guest, tourist, etc. I’ll pay him a visit soon a visit to the doctor...
- When I was in London I popped up to Kettering to pay him a visit.
- Having ranted considerably, welcome to my new English civilian female friend who has decided to pay me a visit in the club this evening.
- It's a little empty at the moment, but pay him a visit anyway.
Synonyms
social call, call
1.1A temporary stay with a person or at a place: she was on a visit to the United States...
- It was meant to be a temporary visit, but Tokyo broke its promise, and said they were not going back.
- Hawkes Bay was a really nice place, and being only 4 hours from Wellington, I can potentially see some future weekend visits to stay there and see more of what it has to offer.
- Better keep your friend and your roots for wonderful visits, and stay where you already have not only friends but also your network of casual acquaintances - your world.
Synonyms
trip to, tour of, look around/round;
stopover, stop-off, stay, stop;
holiday, break;
North American vacation
North American informal vacay
formal sojourn
1.2North American informal A chat: a telephone visit...
- For a long time, these visits were simple informal ‘hi and how are you’ stops in JoAnn's office.
Derivatives
visitable
- I haven't enough space left to discuss Subrahmanyam's career: if he's visitable on a website, browsing through his list of publications might cost you a hundred hours of internet connection.
- There is something both innocent and daring about Simone Martini's richly caparisoned horseman in the Palazzo Pubblico (the visitable part of which goes under the name of the Museo Civico).
- Marrakech doesn't have that many visitable tourist sights anyway so don't feel guilty: you will remember a day in the Mamounia long after the others have been forgotten.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French visiter or Latin visitare 'go to see', frequentative of visare 'to view', from videre 'to see'.