noun
round trip
ROWND TRIP
Round trip (noun) means a journey to a place and back again to where you started. Example: “It's a two-hour round trip to the nearest hospital.”
noun
1
A journey to a place and back again to where you started.
"It's a two-hour round trip to the nearest hospital."
"The round trip cost less than a one-way ticket bought on the day."
2
technical In computing, one complete exchange in which a request is sent and a response comes back.
"Cutting two round trips off the handshake made the page load noticeably faster."
adjective
1
chiefly North American Covering travel out and back. Usually written round-trip before a noun.
"A round-trip fare to Chicago."
"Round-trip flights are cheaper midweek."
How to use round trip
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishGoing somewhere and coming back.
When to use it
Round trip is the standard American term for what British English calls a return. Hyphenated before a noun, open elsewhere.
Memory tip
At a British ticket office ask for a return; at an American one ask for a round trip. Asking for a return in the US may just get you a confused look.
Trace the full origin ↓
Easily confused with
return ticket
one-way
open-jaw
Common pairings
round-trip ticket
round-trip fare
a two-hour round trip
round-trip time
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Fill the gap
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It's a two-hour _____ to the nearest hospital.
Etymology
Formed from round (“complete, entire”; “forming a circle or cycle”) and trip (“journey”).
Synonyms
View more →Antonyms
one-way trip
one-way
Related words
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between round trip and return?
They mean the same thing — travel out and back. Round trip is American usage and return is British. Airlines selling internationally use either, and some booking sites show both labels.
Is a round-trip ticket cheaper than two one-ways?
Usually yes on airlines and long-distance rail, because carriers price return travel as a single product. It is not universal — low-cost airlines often price each leg independently, so two one-ways cost the same.
What does round trip mean in computing?
It means one full request-and-response cycle between two systems. Round-trip time, or RTT, measures how long that takes, and reducing the number of round trips is a standard way to speed up networked applications.
What is the meaning of round trip?
"round trip" (noun) means a journey to a place and back again to where you started.
