suitor

noun

suit·​or ˈsü-tər How to pronounce suitor (audio)
Synonyms of suitornext
1
: one that petitions or entreats
2
: a party to a suit at law
3
: one who courts a woman or seeks to marry her
4
: one who seeks to take over a business

Synonyms of suitor

Relevance
See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Examples of suitor in a Sentence

He was her most persistent suitor, and she eventually agreed to marry him. An unwanted suitor is buying up the company's stock.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But Shepard wasn’t done putting Bell or her suitors on blast quite yet. — Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 29 June 2026 Every player with a pulse had six suitors throwing silly money around. — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 2 July 2026 Her suitor, Arnold, brings a full-size metal detector to comb the beach in Greece for treasure. — Nathan Diller, USA Today, 30 June 2026 There’s been a lot of buzz on Pugachyov, and the Blues are among the top suitors for arguably the premier power forward in the draft. — Corey Pronman, New York Times, 26 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for suitor

Word History

Etymology

Middle English sutour, suytour, follower, petitioner, from Anglo-French siuter, suytour, from Latin secutor follower, from sequi to follow — more at sue

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of suitor was in the 15th century

Rhymes for suitor

See All Rhymes for suitor

Browse Nearby Words

suit oneself
suitor
suit-preference signal
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Suitor.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suitor. Accessed 9 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

Kids Definition

suitor

noun
suit·​or ˈsüt-ər How to pronounce suitor (audio)
1
: one that petitions or pleads
2
: a party to a suit at law
3
: a man who courts a woman or seeks to marry her

Legal Definition

suitor

noun
suit·​or ˈsü-tər How to pronounce suitor (audio)
1
: a party to a suit
2
: one that seeks to take over a business
approved the merger before the suitor obtained a 10% stake—Wall Street Journal

More from Merriam-Webster on suitor

Nglish: Translation of suitor for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of tacit

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All