journey

1. noun

their journey around the world

Syn:

trip, expedition, excursion, tour, trek, voyage, junket, cruise, ride, drive, jaunt; crossing, passage, flight; travels, wandering, globe-trotting; odyssey, pilgrimage; peregrination

2. verb

they journeyed south

Syn:

travel, go, voyage, sail, cruise, fly, hike, trek, ride, drive, make one's way; take/go on a trip, go on an expedition, tour, rove, roam

••

journey, excursion, expedition, jaunt, pilgrimage, trip, voyage

While all of these nouns refer to a course of travel to a particular place, usually for a specific purpose, there is a big difference between a jaunt to the nearest beach and an expedition to the rainforest. While a trip may be either long or short, for business or pleasure, and taken at either a rushed or a leisurely pace (a ski trip; a trip to Europe), a journey suggests that a considerable amount of time and distance will be covered and that the travel will take place over land (a journey into the Australian outback). A long trip by water or through air or space is a voyage (a voyage to the Galapagos Islands; a voyage to Mars), while a short, casual trip for pleasure or recreation is a jaunt (a jaunt to the local shopping mall). Excursion also applies to a brief pleasure trip, usually no more than a day in length, that returns to the place where it began (an afternoon excursion to the zoo). Unlike the rest of these nouns, expedition and pilgrimage apply to journeys that are undertaken for a specific purpose. An expedition is usually made by an organized group or company (a scientific expedition; an expedition to locate new sources of oil), while a pilgrimage is a journey to a place that has religious or emotional significance (the Muslims' annual pilgrimage to Mecca; a pilgrimage to the place where her father died).