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Synonyms

arrival

American  
[uh-rahy-vuhl] / əˈraɪ vəl /

noun

  • arrivals
    plural
  1. an act of arriving; a coming.

    His arrival was delayed by traffic.

    Synonyms:
    advent
  2. the reaching or attainment of any object or condition.

    arrival at a peace treaty.

  3. the person or thing that arrives or has arrived.

    First arrivals will be the first seated.


arrival British  
/ əˈraɪvəl /

noun

  1. the act or time of arriving

  2. a person or thing that arrives or has arrived

  3. the reaching of a condition or objective

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns


Etymology

Origin of arrival

1350–1400; arrive + -al 2; replacing Middle English arivaille < Middle French


Explanation

An arrival is an entrance or an appearance — the act of showing up somewhere. Your arrival at your grandparents' house will no doubt be marked by great enthusiasm and many hugs. The process of arriving, or first getting to your destination, is arrival. Your sister's arrival at the airport might be delayed by bad weather, and your new kitten's arrival will be an exciting event for your whole family. Another kind of arrival is a person who's just arrived: "I easily picked her out from all the bus station arrivals."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing arrival

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper, citing an unnamed South Korean government source, said Kim was greeted by Chinese Premier Li Qiang upon his arrival.

From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2026

The arrival of Storm Boelo comes just a day after Storm Austen is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds to parts of Ireland.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

Kenyan authorities say they didn’t expect him, but were nonetheless ready to handle the health scare triggered by his arrival.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

As an adult, it remains challenging to coordinate schedules and availability, not to mention alignment with other critical details like preferred arrival times and seating/standing location.

From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026

The fire just wasn’t the main reason for his late arrival.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

It described her daughters’ arrivals and noted that her husband had continued to appear outside the home.

From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026

A preliminary estimate of international arrivals to Canada by air and land totaled 5.3 million in September, up 9.5% on-year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

“They equal only 1% of our U.S. workforce. They are not new arrivals to our country,” the company said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Instead, the largest increases occurred around predictable events such as keeper arrivals and times when the animals were moved between areas of their habitat.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

A guard, escorting the arrivals to their cells, introduced them: “Mr. York, Mr. Latham, I’d like you to know Mr. Smith here. And Mr. Hickock. And Mr. Lowell Lee Andrews— ‘the nicest boy in Wolcott!’”

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

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