voyage the definition

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[ voi -ij ]

Synonyms: cruise

• a passage through air or space, as a flight in an airplane or space vehicle.
• a journey or expedition from one place to another by land.

the voyages of Marco Polo.

• Obsolete. an enterprise or undertaking.

verb (used without object)

• to make or take a voyage; travel; journey.

verb (used with object)

to voyage the seven seas.

/ ˈvɔɪɪdʒ /

• a journey, travel, or passage, esp one to a distant land or by sea or air
• obsolete. an ambitious project

we will voyage to Africa

Discover More

Derived forms.

• ˈvoyager , noun

Other Words From

• voyag·er noun
• outvoyage verb (used with object) outvoyaged outvoyaging
• re·voyage noun verb revoyaged revoyaging
• un·voyag·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of voyage 1

Idioms and Phrases

Synonym study, example sentences.

The preserve is such hardy stuff, in fact, that Christopher Columbus packed it alongside salt cod and hardtack on his transatlantic voyages.

Other data do suggest that ancient humans could have deliberately made the voyage to the Ryukyu Islands.

It is unlikely that ancient mariners would have set out on an ocean voyage with a major storm on the horizon, say paleoanthropologist Yousuke Kaifu of the University of Tokyo and colleagues.

Days after the Diamond Princess evacuation, a ship from the same company, the Grand Princess, set sail from San Francisco on another ill-fated voyage.

A statue of its namesake explorer stands in the lobby, near a chart of Cook’s voyages.

It used to carry livestock but sailed its final voyage with a hold full of Syrian men, women, and children.

People might be surprised that during that period “Maiden Voyage,” one of your most well-loved standards, began as a TV jingle.

It has now been revealed that Princess Beatrice will not be among those who will ultimately voyage with Virgin Galactic.

The turbulent waters caused one of his oars to crack, which—without a motor or a sail—can be severely detrimental to his voyage.

The voyage is a new one, certainly for Tambor, but also for Hollywood, in many ways.

Roman Pane who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage alludes to another method of using the herb.

Henry Hudson sailed from Gravesend on his first voyage for the discovery of a northwest passage to India.

I shipped for a voyage to Japan and China, and spent several more years trying to penetrate the forbidden fastnesses of Tibet.

The Swedish boatswain consoled him, and he modified his opinions as the voyage went on.

Capt. Ross sailed from Shetland, on his first voyage for the discovery of the north-west passage.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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voy•age

A journey is the process of travelling from one place to another by land, air, or sea.

A trip is the process of travelling from one place to another, staying there, usually for a short time, and coming back again.

A voyage is a long journey from one place to another in a ship or spacecraft.

An excursion is a short trip made either as a tourist or in order to do a particular thing.

You make or go on a journey.

You take or go on a trip.

You make a voyage.

You go on an excursion.

Be Careful! Don't use 'do' with any of these words. Don't say, for example, ' We did a bus trip '.

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Definition of 'voyage'

voyage in American English

Voyage in british english, examples of 'voyage' in a sentence voyage, trends of voyage.

View usage over: Since Exist Last 10 years Last 50 years Last 100 years Last 300 years

In other languages voyage

• American English : voyage / ˈvɔɪɪdʒ /
• Brazilian Portuguese : viagem
• Chinese : 航程
• European Spanish : travesía
• French : voyage
• German : Reise
• Italian : viaggio in nave, nello spazio
• Japanese : 旅
• Korean : 긴 여행
• European Portuguese : viagem
• Spanish : travesía
• Thai : การเดินทาง

Browse alphabetically voyage

• voyage charter
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'V'

Related terms of voyage

• maiden voyage
• ocean voyage
• View more related words

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• 1.1 Etymology
• 1.2 Pronunciation
• 1.3.1 Synonyms
• 1.3.2 Derived terms
• 1.3.3 Related terms
• 1.3.4 Translations
• 1.4.1 Conjugation
• 1.4.2 Translations
• 2.1 Etymology
• 2.2 Pronunciation
• 2.4.1 Related terms
• 2.5 Further reading
• 2.6 Anagrams

From Middle English viage , borrowed from Anglo-Norman viage and Old French voiage , from Latin viaticum . The modern spelling is under the influence of Modern French voyage . Doublet of viaticum .

Pronunciation

• IPA ( key ) : /ˈvɔɪ.ɪd͡ʒ/

voyage ( plural voyages )

• 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “ The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies   [ … ] ( First Folio ), London: [ … ] Isaac Iaggard , and Ed [ ward ] Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , [ Act IV, scene iii ] , page 126 , column 1: There is a Tide in the affayres of men, / Which taken at the Flood, leades on to Fortune: / Omitted, all the voyage of their life, / Is bound in Shallowes, and in Miſeries.
• 1621 (first performance), John Fletcher , “ The Wild-Goose Chase; a Comedy ”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies.   [ … ] , [ part 1 ] , London: [ … ] J [ ohn ] Macock [ and H. Hills ] , for John Martyn , Henry Herringman , and Richard Marriot , published 1679 , →OCLC , Act V, scene vi, page 467 , column 2: I love a Sea voyage and a bluſtring tempeſt; [...]
• 1880 , Richard Francis Burton , Os Lusíadas , volume I, page 23 : "And as their valour, so you trow, defied on aspe'rous voyage cruel harm and sore, so many changing skies their manhood tried, such climes where storm-winds blow and billows roar[.]"
• 1690 , “ The Preface to the Reader ”, in A Full and True Relation of the Great and Wonderful Revolution That Hapned Lately in the Kingdom of Siam in the East-Indies , London: Randal Taylor, page v: I cannot learn what his Name was, unleſs by the Inſcription of the Letters he ſent to the Pope, and to the French King in the Year 1688, mentioned in the ſecond Voyage of Father Tachard [ … ]
• 1690 , “ A Relation of the Late Great Revolution in Siam, and the Driving Out of the French ”, in A Full and True Relation of the Great and Wonderful Revolution That Hapned Lately in the Kingdom of Siam in the East-Indies , London: Randal Taylor, page 1: By the various Relations, Embaſſies and Voyages of Siam that have been publiſht within theſe laſt Four Years [ … ]
• 1631 , Francis [Bacon] , “ New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished. ”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries.   [ … ] , 3rd edition, London: [ … ] William Rawley ; [ p ] rinted by J [ ohn ] H [ aviland ] for William Lee   [ … ] , page 12 , →OCLC : [...] [A]ll Nations haue Enterknowledge one of another, either by Voyage into Forreine Parts, or by Strangers that come to them: [...]
• exploration

Derived terms

• maiden voyage
• nom de voyage
• not wanted on voyage
• voyage data recorder
• voyage of the damned

Related terms

Translations.

voyage ( third-person singular simple present voyages , present participle voyaging , simple past and past participle voyaged )

• 1850 , William Wordsworth , The Prelude : A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought alone.
• 1870 , Walt Whitman, “Passage to India”, in Leaves of Grass   [ … ] , Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher ,   [ … ] , published 1892 , →OCLC , stanza 9, page 322 : O soul, voyagest thou indeed on voyages like those? / Disportest thou on waters such as those?

Conjugation

† Archaic or obsolete .

Inherited from Old French voiage , viage , veiage , from Latin viāticum . Doublet of viatique .

• IPA ( key ) : /vwa.jaʒ/
• ( Louisiana ) IPA ( key ) : [vo.jaʒ] , [(v)wɒ.jaʒ]
• Homophones : voyagent , voyages
• Hyphenation: vo‧yage
• Rhymes: -ɑʒ

voyage   m ( plural voyages )

• trip , travel
• first / third-person singular present indicative / subjunctive
• second-person singular imperative
• agence de voyages
• gens de voyage
• récit de voyage
• voyage d’affaires
• voyage dans le temps
• voyage de noces

Further reading

• “ voyage ”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [ Digitized Treasury of the French Language ] , 2012 .

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  Vocabulary      

What does voyage mean?

Definitions for voyage ˈvɔɪ ɪdʒ voy·age, this dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word voyage ., princeton's wordnet rate this definition: 2.7 / 3 votes.

ocean trip, voyage noun

an act of traveling by water

• voyage verb

a journey to some distant place

voyage, sail, navigate verb

travel on water propelled by wind or by other means

"The QE2 will sail to Southampton tomorrow"

Wiktionary Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes

voyage noun

A long journey; especially by ship.

To go on a long journey.

Etymology: viage, from viage, from voiage, from viaticum. The modern spelling is under the influence of Modern voyage.

ChatGPT Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes

A voyage refers to a long journey involving travel by sea or in space. It can also potentially refer to an airplane journey.

Webster Dictionary Rate this definition: 5.0 / 3 votes

Voyage noun

formerly, a passage either by sea or land; a journey, in general; but not chiefly limited to a passing by sea or water from one place, port, or country, to another; especially, a passing or journey by water to a distant place or country

the act or practice of traveling

course; way

Voyage verb

to take a voyage; especially, to sail or pass by water

to travel; to pass over; to traverse

Etymology: [OE. veage, viage, OF. veage, viage, veiage, voiage, F. voyage, LL. viaticum, fr. L. viaticum traveling money, provision for a journey, from viaticus belonging to a road or journey, fr. via way, akin to E. way. See Way, n., and cf. Convey, Deviate, Devious, Envoy, Trivial, Viaduct, Viaticum.]

Wikidata Rate this definition: 1.0 / 1 vote

Voyage is a 1996 hard science fiction novel by British author Stephen Baxter. The book depicts a manned mission to Mars as it might have been in another timeline, one where John F. Kennedy survived the assassination attempt on him in 1963. Voyage won a Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1997. It has since been made into a radio serial for BBC Radio 4.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes

voi′āj, n. passage by water: ( Shak. ) an enterprise.— v.i. to make a voyage, or to pass by water.— v.t. to traverse, pass over.— adj. Voy′age-able , navigable.— n. Voy′ager , one who voyages.— n.pl. Voyageurs (vwo-ya-zher′), name given in Canada to the men who in their bark canoes kept up communication between the stations, and effected transportation of men and supplies, in the North-west and Hudson's Bay territory. [Fr.,—L. viaticum , travelling-money—L. via , a way.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes

A journey by sea. It usually includes the outward and homeward trips, which are called passages.

Suggested Resources Rate this definition: 3.5 / 2 votes

The voyage symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the voyage symbol and its characteristic.

Song lyrics by voyage -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by voyage on the Lyrics.com website.

Matched Categories

How to pronounce voyage.

Alex US English David US English Mark US English Daniel British Libby British Mia British Karen Australian Hayley Australian Natasha Australian Veena Indian Priya Indian Neerja Indian Zira US English Oliver British Wendy British Fred US English Tessa South African

How to say voyage in sign language?

Chaldean Numerology

The numerical value of voyage in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

Pythagorean Numerology

The numerical value of voyage in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of voyage in a Sentence

Richard Milhous Nixon :

Success is not a harbor but a voyage with its own perils to the spirit The lesson that most of us on this voyage never learn, but can never quite forget, is that to win is sometimes to lose.

Amenorhu kwaku :

Desiring something that you cannot possess is but a fruitless voyage .

William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar :

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

Princess Cruises :

While there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 currently on board, the CDC has identified groups of guests and crew who will be tested before arrival into San Francisco, there are fewer than 100 guests and crew identified for testing, including all in-transit guests( guests who were on the previous Mexico voyage and remained onboard for the current Hawaii voyage ), those guests and crew who have experienced influenza-like illness symptoms on this voyage , and guests currently under care for respiratory illness.

Jon Sletten :

On overseas vessels is perhaps a step too far, but I think elements are already being used in shipping today when it comes to mooring and to the voyage , i think we'll see more partly autonomous elements added.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

• ^  Princeton's WordNet http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=voyage
• ^  Wiktionary https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Voyage
• ^  ChatGPT https://chat.openai.com
• ^  Webster Dictionary https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/voyage
• ^  Wikidata https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=voyage
• ^  Chambers 20th Century Dictionary https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=voyage
• ^  Dictionary of Nautical Terms https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26000/pg26000-images.html#:~:text=voyage

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Definition of voyage verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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Synonyms of voyage

• as in cruise
• as in to travel
• as in to sail
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Thesaurus Definition of voyage

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Synonyms & Similar Words

Thesaurus Definition of voyage  (Entry 2 of 2)

• peregrinate
• road - trip
• knock (about)
• perambulate

Phrases Containing voyage

Thesaurus entries near voyage, cite this entry.

“Voyage.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/voyage. Accessed 6 Jun. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on voyage

Nglish: Translation of voyage for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of voyage for Arabic Speakers

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Christopher Columbus

By: History.com Editors

Updated: August 11, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

The explorer Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain: in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502. He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did. Instead, he stumbled upon the Americas. Though he did not “discover” the so-called New World—millions of people already lived there—his journeys marked the beginning of centuries of exploration and colonization of North and South America.

Christopher Columbus and the Age of Discovery

During the 15th and 16th centuries, leaders of several European nations sponsored expeditions abroad in the hope that explorers would find great wealth and vast undiscovered lands. The Portuguese were the earliest participants in this “ Age of Discovery ,” also known as “ Age of Exploration .”

Starting in about 1420, small Portuguese ships known as caravels zipped along the African coast, carrying spices, gold and other goods as well as enslaved people from Asia and Africa to Europe.

Did you know? Christopher Columbus was not the first person to propose that a person could reach Asia by sailing west from Europe. In fact, scholars argue that the idea is almost as old as the idea that the Earth is round. (That is, it dates back to early Rome.)

Other European nations, particularly Spain, were eager to share in the seemingly limitless riches of the “Far East.” By the end of the 15th century, Spain’s “ Reconquista ”—the expulsion of Jews and Muslims out of the kingdom after centuries of war—was complete, and the nation turned its attention to exploration and conquest in other areas of the world.

Early Life and Nationality 

Christopher Columbus, the son of a wool merchant, is believed to have been born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. When he was still a teenager, he got a job on a merchant ship. He remained at sea until 1476, when pirates attacked his ship as it sailed north along the Portuguese coast.

The boat sank, but the young Columbus floated to shore on a scrap of wood and made his way to Lisbon, where he eventually studied mathematics, astronomy, cartography and navigation. He also began to hatch the plan that would change the world forever.

Christopher Columbus' First Voyage

At the end of the 15th century, it was nearly impossible to reach Asia from Europe by land. The route was long and arduous, and encounters with hostile armies were difficult to avoid. Portuguese explorers solved this problem by taking to the sea: They sailed south along the West African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope.

But Columbus had a different idea: Why not sail west across the Atlantic instead of around the massive African continent? The young navigator’s logic was sound, but his math was faulty. He argued (incorrectly) that the circumference of the Earth was much smaller than his contemporaries believed it was; accordingly, he believed that the journey by boat from Europe to Asia should be not only possible, but comparatively easy via an as-yet undiscovered Northwest Passage . 

He presented his plan to officials in Portugal and England, but it was not until 1492 that he found a sympathetic audience: the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile .

Columbus wanted fame and fortune. Ferdinand and Isabella wanted the same, along with the opportunity to export Catholicism to lands across the globe. (Columbus, a devout Catholic, was equally enthusiastic about this possibility.)

Columbus’ contract with the Spanish rulers promised that he could keep 10 percent of whatever riches he found, along with a noble title and the governorship of any lands he should encounter.

Where Did Columbus' Ships, Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria, Land?

On August 3, 1492, Columbus and his crew set sail from Spain in three ships: the Niña , the Pinta and the Santa Maria . On October 12, the ships made landfall—not in the East Indies, as Columbus assumed, but on one of the Bahamian islands, likely San Salvador.

For months, Columbus sailed from island to island in what we now know as the Caribbean, looking for the “pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other objects and merchandise whatsoever” that he had promised to his Spanish patrons, but he did not find much. In January 1493, leaving several dozen men behind in a makeshift settlement on Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic), he left for Spain.

He kept a detailed diary during his first voyage. Christopher Columbus’s journal was written between August 3, 1492, and November 6, 1492 and mentions everything from the wildlife he encountered, like dolphins and birds, to the weather to the moods of his crew. More troublingly, it also recorded his initial impressions of the local people and his argument for why they should be enslaved.

“They… brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks’ bells," he wrote. "They willingly traded everything they owned… They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features… They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”

Columbus gifted the journal to Isabella upon his return.

Christopher Columbus's Later Voyages

About six months later, in September 1493, Columbus returned to the Americas. He found the Hispaniola settlement destroyed and left his brothers Bartolomeo and Diego Columbus behind to rebuild, along with part of his ships’ crew and hundreds of enslaved indigenous people.

Then he headed west to continue his mostly fruitless search for gold and other goods. His group now included a large number of indigenous people the Europeans had enslaved. In lieu of the material riches he had promised the Spanish monarchs, he sent some 500 enslaved people to Queen Isabella. The queen was horrified—she believed that any people Columbus “discovered” were Spanish subjects who could not be enslaved—and she promptly and sternly returned the explorer’s gift.

In May 1498, Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic for the third time. He visited Trinidad and the South American mainland before returning to the ill-fated Hispaniola settlement, where the colonists had staged a bloody revolt against the Columbus brothers’ mismanagement and brutality. Conditions were so bad that Spanish authorities had to send a new governor to take over.

Meanwhile, the native Taino population, forced to search for gold and to work on plantations, was decimated (within 60 years after Columbus landed, only a few hundred of what may have been 250,000 Taino were left on their island). Christopher Columbus was arrested and returned to Spain in chains.

In 1502, cleared of the most serious charges but stripped of his noble titles, the aging Columbus persuaded the Spanish crown to pay for one last trip across the Atlantic. This time, Columbus made it all the way to Panama—just miles from the Pacific Ocean—where he had to abandon two of his four ships after damage from storms and hostile natives. Empty-handed, the explorer returned to Spain, where he died in 1506.

Legacy of Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus did not “discover” the Americas, nor was he even the first European to visit the “New World.” (Viking explorer Leif Erikson had sailed to Greenland and Newfoundland in the 11th century.)

However, his journey kicked off centuries of exploration and exploitation on the American continents. The Columbian Exchange transferred people, animals, food and disease across cultures. Old World wheat became an American food staple. African coffee and Asian sugar cane became cash crops for Latin America, while American foods like corn, tomatoes and potatoes were introduced into European diets. 

Today, Columbus has a controversial legacy —he is remembered as a daring and path-breaking explorer who transformed the New World, yet his actions also unleashed changes that would eventually devastate the native populations he and his fellow explorers encountered.

HISTORY Vault: Columbus the Lost Voyage

Ten years after his 1492 voyage, Columbus, awaiting the gallows on criminal charges in a Caribbean prison, plotted a treacherous final voyage to restore his reputation.

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Celebrity Summit May 2024

At a glance.

Learn about the gastrointestinal illness outbreak on Celebrity Cruises ship Celebrity Summit in May 2024, including outbreak details and actions taken in response.

Outbreak details

Cruise Line: Celebrity Cruises

Cruise Ship: Celebrity Summit

Voyage Dates: May 24–May 31, 2024

Voyage number: 58044

Number of passengers who reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 68 of 2,264 (3%)

Number of crew who reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 5 of 943 (0.53%)

Predominant symptoms: diarrhea and vomiting

Causative agent: norovirus

Actions in response to the outbreak

In response to the outbreak, Celebrity Cruises and the crew aboard the ship reported the following actions:

• Collected stool specimens from gastrointestinal illness cases for testing.
• Isolated ill passengers and crew.
• Staged disembarkation for active cases to limit the opportunity of illness transmission to well guests.
• Sanitation of terminal and transport infection control procedures.

VSP remotely monitored the situation, including review of the ship's outbreak response and sanitation procedures.

Tips for healthy cruising

Learn how passengers can protect themselves .

More information

Gastrointestinal illness is a commonly used term for acute gastroenteritis (AGE). Cruise ships report cases that meet our case definition for AGE. We define a reportable case of AGE as

• Three or more loose stools within a 24-hour period or what is more than normal for that person OR
• Vomiting along with one of the following symptoms: diarrhea, muscle ache, headache, abdominal cramp, or fever.

Case totals

Cases reported are totals for the entire voyage. It does not mean all people are sick at the same time, such as when they arrive or leave a port or ship.

The Vessel Sanitation Program helps the cruise ship industry prevent and control the introduction and spread of gastrointestinal illnesses on cruise ships.

For Everyone

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Meaning of bon voyage in English

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• acciaccatura
• pas de deux
• the Internationale
• vivacissimo

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

• Flora's voice wished me " bon voyage " in a most friendly but tremulous tone.  
• He wished us bon voyage, removed his hand, and we were off.  
• It's best to say 'good-bye' and 'bon voyage' right here.  
• Numerous devoted friends were on hand to say good bye and "bon voyage", but they were permitted only on the dock.  
• There was a short drive to the river amid polite calls of "good-bye" and " bon voyage," and there lay the Mayflower, like a great white bird with comfortably folded wings.  

Translations of bon voyage

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any of the rods that join the edge of a wheel to its centre, so giving the wheel its strength

Worse than or worst of all? How to use the words ‘worse’ and ‘worst’

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Continuing ABB’s investment in marine digitalization to serve the efficiency and decarbonization needs of ship owners and operators, the acquisition brings with it advanced routing services.

ABB to expand offering to vessel weather routing, analytics, reporting and shore-based support through the acquisition of the shipping business of DTN Europe BV and DTN Philippines Inc.

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