guest

1 of 2

noun

1
a
: a person entertained in one's house
b
: a person to whom hospitality is extended
c
: a person who pays for the services of an establishment (such as a hotel or restaurant)
2
: an organism (such as an insect) sharing the dwelling of another
especially : inquiline
3
: a substance that is incorporated in a host substance
4
: a usually prominent person not a regular member of a cast or organization who appears in a program or performance

guest

2 of 2

verb

guested; guesting; guests

transitive verb

: to receive as a guest

intransitive verb

: to appear as a guest

Examples of guest in a Sentence

Noun Our guests should be arriving soon. Only invited guests are allowed inside the banquet hall. He played at the country club as a guest of one of the members. Our guests receive the finest quality service. Frequent guests receive a discount.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The idea is to see if his guests can take the heat. Max Kim, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2024 What to expect at Pronto by Giada Pronto by Giada is a more casual cafe where guests can either grab and go or stay and relax with a cup of coffee. Endia Fontanez, The Arizona Republic, 5 Mar. 2024 Later that year, guests had a chance to experience meals from each Food Fighter during the Top 10 Takeover dinner series, and our team continued to raise funds for Forgotten Harvest. Detroit Free Press, 5 Mar. 2024 Grammy-award winning inspirational singer Lauren Daigle is coming to the AMP Aug. 14 on her Kaleidoscope Tour with with musical guest Blessing Offor. Monica Hooper, arkansasonline.com, 4 Mar. 2024 Laundry service is available across Disney World resort hotels if guests want to pack less or wash anything. Eve Chen, USA TODAY, 4 Mar. 2024 Tomorrow’s series premiere of Art Official Intelligence Radio will feature special guest Queen Latifah. Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 4 Mar. 2024 Trending on Billboard Soon after, the quintet celebrated the 15th anniversary of their reunion album, The Block, with special edition The Block Revisited, including remixes and guest collaborations. Lars Brandle, Billboard, 22 Feb. 2024 In comparison, guest posting involves creating content for another website within your industry to obtain a backlink to your website. 4. Nick Zviadadze, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024
Verb
Disney Branded Television confirmed to USA TODAY that Gomez will guest star in the pilot but is not expected to be a series regular. Dina Kaur, The Arizona Republic, 28 Feb. 2024 Gomez will guest star in the pilot opposite Henrie, who originally played her older brother Justin Russo, She is not expected to be a series regular. Jay Stahl, USA TODAY, 18 Jan. 2024 A day after that, McAfee announced on-air that Rodgers, who typically guests on the show on Tuesdays, would not return this season. Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 11 Jan. 2024 Images courtesy of Daniel Arnold for Gucci Then, at the Paris haute couture shows, Simone Rocha will become the sixth designer and only the second woman after Sacai’s Chitose Abe to guest design a Jean Paul Gaultier collection. Nicole Phelps, Vogue, 2 Jan. 2024 John Legend, Teigen’s husband, will also guest star in addition to appearances from Kumail Nanjiani, Regina Hall, Simu Liu and other celebrities. Starr Bowenbank, Billboard, 6 Nov. 2023 While appearing on his SiriusXM radio show, Radio Andy, earlier this week, Andy Cohen revealed to guest Danny Pellegrino that the RHONJ cast was supposed to travel to the Berkshires in Massachusetts, but a fire ruined their plans. Nicholas Rice, Peoplemag, 28 Oct. 2023 Ever since Thalía invited Becky to guest on one of her songs back in 2015, the two have stayed close, reaching out to compliment each other and trade advice. Julyssa Lopez, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2023 During an episode of her daytime talk show this week, Clarkson spoke to guest Bowen Yang about Swift and Travis Kelce’s surprise Saturday Night Live appearance and the sketch lampooning the NFL’s newfound obsession with the couple. Vulture, 22 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'guest.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English gest, gyst, gust, gist "person to whom hospitality is extended, visitor, stranger," going back to Old English giest, gyst, gest, gæst (with Middle English g probably in part from Old Norse gestr), going back to Germanic *gasti- (whence also Old Frisian jest "guest," Old Saxon & Old High German gast "guest, stranger," Old Norse gestr, Gothic gasts "stranger") going back to dialectal Indo-European *ghost-i- "outsider, guest," whence also Old Church Slavic gostĭ "guest," Latin hostis "foreigner, stranger" (in early use), "enemy"

Note: An etymon limited to three western Indo-European branches. Further analysis of the word has been made on the basis of early use of Latin hostis, taken to mean, on the basis of the Law of the Twelve Tables, "outsider due the same right of ownership as a Roman citizen"; from the same base would be hostus "yield of olive oil from a single pressing" (narrowed from a presumed more general "yield, compensation"), the derived verb hostīre "to recompense, requite," and the noun hostia "sacrificial animal, sacrifice" ("recompense to the gods," perhaps originally feminine of an adjective *hostius, the deleted noun having designated an animal; see host entry 3). Ancestral *ghos-ti- could hypothetically be a derivative of an Indo-European verbal base *ǵhes- "take, give in exchange." With the loss in later Roman practice of the strict legal meaning, Latin hostis became restricted in meaning to "hostile outsider, enemy." This shift is noted by varro, who remarked that hostis was used by "our ancestors" in a sense now covered by peregrīnus (see pilgrim).

Verb

Middle English gesten, derivative of gest guest entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of guest was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near guest

Cite this Entry

“Guest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guest. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

guest

noun
ˈgest
1
: a person entertained in one's house
2
: a person to whom hospitality is given
guests at a school banquet
3
: a customer at a hotel, motel, inn, or restaurant
4
: a usually well-known person who appears or performs on a program by invitation
guests on a TV show

Biographical Definition

Guest

biographical name

Edgar Albert 1881–1959 American journalist and poet

More from Merriam-Webster on guest

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