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

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."

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

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 notes

In 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

Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.

Test yourself on “round trip” A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage →

Fill the gap

Can you complete this real example?

It's a two-hour _____ to the nearest hospital.

Etymology

From round (“complete, entire"; "forming a circle or cycle”) + trip (“journey”).

Synonyms

View more →

return journey return trip there and back return round-trip time RTT

Antonyms

one-way trip one-way

Related words

take return issue fall profit reply respond deliver

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.

People also searched

take return issue fall profit reply respond deliver