First Known Use: 13th century
Dictionary
1sojourn
noun so·journ \ˈsō-ˌjərn, sō-ˈ\
: a period of time when you stay in a place as a traveler or guest
Full Definition of SOJOURN
: a temporary stay <a sojourn in the country>
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Examples of SOJOURN
- The visit with my father was preceded by a sojourn with my sister, Joy—an artistic type and sometime vegan who plays the part of patient vegetarian whenever her unrepentantly carnivorous brother drops in—and her husband, who were kind enough to pick me up at Heathrow. —John Haney, Gourmet, January 2003
- On a recent sojourn in Sicily, I frequently found myself remembering that page in the children's encyclopedia, because it seemed to me that what I was seeing was as close as I will ever come to the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. —Francine Prose, Atlantic, December 2002
- My mother is Venezuelan, and every year during my childhood we spent a two-month sojourn with her family there. —Alexandra Starr, New Republic, 20 May 2002
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Origin of SOJOURN
Middle English sojorn, from Anglo-French sujur, sujurn, from sujurner (see 2sojourn)
Rhymes with SOJOURN
2sojourn
intransitive verb so·journ \ˈsō-ˌjərn, sō-ˈ\
Definition of SOJOURN
: to stay as a temporary resident : stop <sojourned for a month at a resort>
— so·journ·er noun
Examples of SOJOURN
- ‘Am I hideous, Jane?’ ‘Very, sir: you always were, you know.’ ‘Humph! The wickedness has not been taken out of you, wherever you have sojourned.’ —Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847
- … there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane, who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, “tarried,” in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. —Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleep Hollow, 1820
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Origin of SOJOURN
SOJOURNER Defined for Kids
1sojourn
noun so·journ \ˈsō-ˌjərn\
Definition of SOJOURN for Kids
: a temporary stay <My family enjoyed a week-long sojourn in Europe.>
2sojourn
verb
so·journedso·journ·ing
Definition of SOJOURN for Kids
: to stay as a temporary resident <He sojourned for a month at a desert inn.>
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