trip
A journey from one place to another and back.
The word trip has several meanings:
- A journey from one place to another, especially when you return to where you started. You might take a trip to visit your grandparents, go on a field trip with your class to a museum, or plan a summer trip to the beach. Business travelers take trips for work, while families take trips for vacation. A round trip means going somewhere and coming back, while a one-way trip means traveling without a return journey planned.
- To stumble or fall by catching your foot on something. You might trip over a tree root on a hiking trail or trip on an untied shoelace. When you accidentally cause someone else to fall, you trip them. A clever basketball player might try to trip up an opponent, though that's against the rules.
- To activate a mechanism or set something in motion. When you trip a switch or lever, you cause something to happen. Alarm systems trip when someone enters without permission. Scientists talk about tripping sensors or triggers that start a reaction.
The phrase guilt trip describes when someone tries to make another person feel bad for not doing what they want, like saying “I guess you don't care about me” to pressure them into changing their mind.