Meanings
plural sojourns
- A short stay somewhere.
The use of vasoconstrictors to increase the sojourn of local anesthetics at the site of infiltration continues[…]
2006, Joseph Price Remington, Paul Beringer, Remington: The Science And Practice Of Pharmacy, page 11682 more examples
Better the dark, silent, and fated waves of ocean, than the troubled waves of life. There are some whose sojourn on this earth is brief as it is bitter.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XLIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 367But if, as we have seen, Wu's ambivalent attitude toward the conventional route to success originated in his early appreciation of the idealistic virtues of his father, then it is possible that parts of the work could have been written much earlier, perhaps even during his sojourn with his father in Chiang-su.
1978, Timothy C. Wong, edited by William Schultz, Wu Ching-tzu, Twayne Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 30 - A temporary residence.
Though long detain'd / In that obscure sojourn
1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLCSynonyms: peregrination
present singular third person sojourns · participle present sojourning · participle past sojourned · past sojourned
- intransitiveTo reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger.
Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 12:301 more example
The soldiers first assembled at Newcastle, […] and here sojourned three days.
a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLCSynonyms: stay over, stop, keep, lodge, quarter, sleep over, stay, stop off
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA temporary residence.
verbTo reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindies“day”
- Late Latindiurnus“lasting for a day”
- Latinsub-“under, a little over”
- Vulgar Latin*subdiurnāre
- Old Frenchsojor
- Middle Englishsojourne
- Englishsojourn
From Middle English sojourne (noun) and sojournen (verb), from Old French sojor, sojorner (modern séjour, séjourner), from (assumed) Vulgar Latin *subdiurnāre, from Latin sub- (“under, a little over”) + Late Latin diurnus (“lasting for a day”), from Latin dies (“day”).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Vulgar Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic إِقَامَة
- إِقَامَة (ʔiqāma)short stay somewhere
Bulgarian пребива́ване, престо́й
- пребива́ване (prebivávane)short stay somewhere
- престо́й (prestój)short stay somewhere
- спи́ране (spírane)short stay somewhere
- временно жилище (vremenno žilište)temporary residence
- местопребива́ване (mestoprebivávane)temporary residence
- пребивавам временно (prebivavam vremenno)to reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- отся́дам (otsjádam)to reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- отсе́дна (otsédna)to reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Catalan estada, sojorn
- estadashort stay somewhere
- sojornshort stay somewhere
- sojornarto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Chinese Mandarin 停留, 旅居
- 停留 (tíngliú)short stay somewhere
- 旅居 (lǚjū)short stay somewhere
- 旅居 (lǚjū)to reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- 寄住to reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Czech pobyt, přechodný pobyt
- pobytshort stay somewhere
- přechodný pobyttemporary residence
- dočasný pobyttemporary residence
- dočasně přebývatto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- dočasně pobývatto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- zdržovat seto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Danish ophold, kort visit
- opholdshort stay somewhere
- kort visitshort stay somewhere
- opholdsstedtemporary residence
- opholde sigto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Dutch verblijf
- verblijfshort stay somewhere
Finnish oleskelu, oleskelu
- oleskelushort stay somewhere
- oleskelutemporary residence
- oleskellato reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
French séjour, séjourner
- séjourshort stay somewhere
- séjournerto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
German Aufenthalt, Unterkunft
- Aufenthaltshort stay somewhere
- Unterkunfttemporary residence
- Obdachtemporary residence
- Übernachtungsmöglichkeittemporary residence
- sich aufhaltento reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- verweilento reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- weilento reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- residierento reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Hawaiian noho malihini
- noho malihinito reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Hungarian időzés, tartózkodás
- időzésshort stay somewhere
- tartózkodásshort stay somewhere
- tartózkodási helytemporary residence
- időzikto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- tartózkodikto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Icelandic dvöl, viðdvöl
- dvölshort stay somewhere
- viðdvölshort stay somewhere
- dveljast um tímato reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- hafa viðdvölto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Italian soggiorno, soggiornare
- soggiornoshort stay somewhere
- soggiornareto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Japanese 滞在, 滞留
- 滞在 (taizai)short stay somewhere
- 滞留 (tairyū)short stay somewhere
- 滞在するto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Korean 체재, 체류
- 체재 (chejae)short stay somewhere
- 체류 (cheryu)short stay somewhere
- 체류 (cheryu)to reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Polish pobyt
- pobytshort stay somewhere
Portuguese estadia, peregrinar
- estadiashort stay somewhere
- peregrinarto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
- estanciarto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Romanian sejur
- sejurshort stay somewhere
Russian пребыва́ние, вре́менное пребыва́ние
- пребыва́ние (prebyvánije)short stay somewhere
- вре́менное пребыва́ние (vrémennoje prebyvánije)short stay somewhere
- временно пребывать (vremenno prebyvatʹ)to reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Scottish Gaelic còmhnaidh, còmhnaidh
- còmhnaidhshort stay somewhere
- còmhnaidhtemporary residence
Slovak pobyt
- pobytshort stay somewhere
Spanish estadía, estada
- estadíashort stay somewhere
- estadashort stay somewhere
- estanciashort stay somewhere
- estalajeshort stay somewhere
- permanenciashort stay somewhere
- residencia temporáneatemporary residence
Swedish sejour, vistelse
- sejourshort stay somewhere
- vistelseshort stay somewhere
Tamil தங்கு
- தங்கு (taṅku)to reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Ukrainian перебува́ння, пробува́ння
- перебува́ння (perebuvánnja)short stay somewhere
- пробува́ння (probuvánnja)short stay somewhere
- по́бут (póbut)short stay somewhere
Welsh ymdeithio
- ymdeithioto reside somewhere temporarily, especially as a guest or lodger
Cite this entry
sojourn. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sojourn
“sojourn.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sojourn. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sojourn,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sojourn.
Source: sojourn on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.