A sojourn is a temporary stay in a place, usually suggesting something meaningful and extended. When your family takes a month-long sojourn to the mountains, you settle in for a while, getting to know the place, but planning to return home eventually.

The word carries a sense of purpose or significance. A scientist might make a sojourn to Antarctica to study penguins for six months. A writer could take a sojourn in Paris to finish a novel. It's different from a vacation because it often involves work, study, or some deeper reason for being there.

You might read about historical figures who made important sojourns that changed their lives. Abraham Lincoln's sojourn in New Salem, Illinois, as a young man helped shape his character before he became president. The word suggests that even temporary stays can leave lasting impressions.

As a verb, you can sojourn somewhere: “She sojourned in Japan for a year to study traditional pottery.” The word hints that wherever you go, you're living there as more than a tourist, learning from the place and becoming part of it, if only for a season.