What does visited mean?
Visited is the past tense and past participle of visit, and it normally means that someone has gone to or stayed at a place, either as a tourist or as a guest. It can also describe a person calling on someone or attending an event. Because it is a participle, it commonly modifies a noun: “a frequently visited museum” means a museum that people often go to, while “recently visited pages” identifies pages opened in a browser. In formal or literary English, “visited with” is an extended use meaning affected by an illness, trouble, or misfortune, as in “visited with grief.” The basic sense is neutral and common in speech and formal writing; the extended sense sounds literary or archaic. The word is especially useful when a speaker needs to present a completed visit without indicating whether it is still under way.
verbVisited is the past tense and past participle of visit: it means went to or stayed at a place, or called on someone. In formal or literary use, “visited with” can also mean affected by an illness, trouble, or misfortune.
- Went to or stayed at a place, either as a traveller, tourist, or guest.
- Called on a person or attended an event.
- In formal or literary use, was affected by an illness, trouble, or misfortune.
"We visited the museum before lunch and spent the afternoon exploring the old town."
"After visiting three universities, she finally chose a programme in classical archaeology."
"The archive lists the most recently visited pages at the top of the screen."
A visit can be a journey log—or, in literary English, a diagnosis: to be “visited with illness” means to be afflicted by it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does visited come from?
Visited is the past tense and past participle of visit. The verb entered Middle English through Old French visiter, ultimately from Latin visitare, meaning “to go to see” or “to visit,” a verb associated with the Latin participle visus, “seen.” English relatives include visitation and visitor, while visitable is a later derivative and vista is a cognate based on the shared Latin sense of seeing.
How visited is actually used
The ordinary sense is neutral and common in both formal and informal English. The construction “visited with” is literary or old-fashioned in everyday speech and normally means affected or afflicted by something.
Easily confused with visited
A visitation is a formal, ceremonial, or official visit, whereas visited is the past tense and past participle of visit.