“Arrival” is a noun with three main meanings: the act of reaching a place, a person or thing that has just come (a “new arrival” is often a baby), and reaching a goal or a decision. It is said uh-RYE-vul (/əˈraɪvəl/). The word came into English in the late 14th century from Anglo-French arrivaille, and it first meant coming ashore at the end of a sea voyage. Star Dictionary is an independent words and language reference and has no connection to the StarDict dictionary program. That program is maintained by its own developers elsewhere.
What “arrival” means
Arrival is the noun form of the verb arrive. Major dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster and the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries list these senses:
- The act of arriving. You reach a place at the end of a trip. “Our arrival in Lisbon was delayed by fog.”
- A person or thing that has arrived. This can be a new guest, a new employee, a new product or a newborn baby. “The bookshop has a table of new arrivals by the door.”
- Reaching a state, goal or result. “After three hours of debate, the arrival at a compromise felt like a small miracle.”
Some fixed uses are worth knowing. In airports and train stations, Arrivals (plural, often capitalised) is the area or board for incoming travel, and Departures is its opposite. In hospitals and in business slang, dead on arrival means dead before reaching care, or a plan that fails as soon as it is proposed.
How to say it
Say it in three syllables: uh-RYE-vul, with the stress on the middle syllable.
| Source | Transcription | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Simple respelling | uh-RYE-vul | Stress on “RYE” |
| IPA (US and UK) | /əˈraɪvəl/ | The first vowel is a weak schwa |
| Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries | /əˈraɪvl/ | The last syllable is reduced to a syllabic “l” |
| Merriam-Webster | ə-ˈrī-vəl | Merriam-Webster’s own respelling system |
A common mistake is stressing the first syllable (“AIR-ih-vul”). Native speakers keep the first syllable short and unstressed.
Where the word comes from
The word started out at sea. Etymonline traces arrival to Anglo-French arrivaille, which comes from Old French ariver, “to come to land.” That verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *arripare, “to touch the shore,” from Latin ad ripam, “to the shore.” Ripa means riverbank or shore.
Here is how the meaning changed over time:
- Late 14th century: the noun meant coming to land at the end of a voyage by sea, or getting off a ship.
- 1510s: the broader sense, the end of any journey, appeared.
- Later: the senses “a person who has arrived” and “reaching a goal” developed from these.
Merriam-Webster gives the Middle English forms as arivaile and arrival, borrowed from Anglo-French arrivayle or arivail. These were formed from ariver plus the noun suffix -ayle or -ail. The same suffix appears in rehearsal and refusal, two more nouns made from verbs with -al.
Example sentences
These examples show each sense in ordinary use:
- “Please check in at the front desk on arrival.”
- “The estimated time of arrival is 6:40 p.m.”
- “Congratulations on your new arrival! What did you name her?”
- “The arrival of cheap smartphones changed how people read the news.”
- “Late arrivals will be seated at the interval.”
- “Without funding, the proposal was dead on arrival.”
Common phrases with “arrival”
Most everyday uses come from a small set of set phrases.
| Phrase | Meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|
| on arrival / upon arrival | when you get there | Neutral; “upon” is more formal |
| new arrival | someone who has just come, often a baby | Neutral, friendly |
| late arrival | a person or thing that comes late | Neutral |
| time of arrival (ETA) | when someone is expected to get there | Travel, business |
| Arrivals (hall, board) | the area or display for incoming travel | Signage |
| dead on arrival (DOA) | already dead on reaching a hospital; a plan that fails at once | Medical; informal in business |
Synonyms, antonyms and related words
The closest synonym depends on which sense you mean.
- Act of arriving: coming, appearance, entrance, landing, homecoming.
- Person who has arrived: newcomer, incomer, visitor, entrant.
- Something new appearing: advent, emergence, introduction, debut.
- Antonyms: departure, exit, leaving, going.
Related words include the verb arrive, the noun arriver (rarely used), and arriviste. Arriviste is a later borrowing from French for an ambitious newcomer who is pushing for status. It is a disapproving word.
The most common confusion is arrival and advent. Advent means the coming of something important or long awaited (“the advent of the internet”). It is rarely used for a person stepping off a train.
| arrival |
The original page carried the line “©2006 StarDict.” It dates from the years when this web address belonged to the StarDict program.
“Arrival” the film
Many people searching the word mean the 2016 science fiction film. Arrival was directed by Denis Villeneuve. Eric Heisserer adapted it from Ted Chiang’s 1998 novella “Story of Your Life.” The film follows a linguist trying to communicate with alien visitors, so it suits a word reference well. At the 89th Academy Awards in 2017 it received eight nominations, including Best Picture, and won Best Sound Editing.
About this page and the StarDict program
This address once hosted the website of StarDict, a free, open-source dictionary program. In those years a query page like this one showed results from dictionary files loaded into StarDict. The old site’s menu offered items such as Download StarDict, FAQ and Help, and one banner asked “Looking for chinese translators?” All of that is history. Star Dictionary is a separate, independent reference and is not the program’s official home. It offers no downloads.
StarDict is still developed by its own team, led by Hu Zheng, and the main development now happens in the huzheng001/stardict-3 repository on GitHub. The program runs on Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and Solaris, and it once ran on Maemo. Its dictionary format stores each dictionary as a set of files: an.ifo information file, an.idx index file and a.dict data file, which is often compressed as.dict.dz. Other dictionary apps, such as GoldenDict, can read this format as well.
One point matters if you look for StarDict dictionaries today. Some old dictionary files that circulated online were unlicensed copies of commercial dictionaries. Use the project’s own pages for official information. For word meanings, use properly licensed sources: the free online editions of Merriam-Webster, Cambridge and the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, or open projects such as Wiktionary.
Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of arrival?
Arrival means the act of reaching a place, a person or thing that has just come, or reaching a goal or state. “Her arrival at the station,” “a new arrival in the office” and “the arrival of spring” show the three uses. It is always a noun. The verb is arrive.
How do you pronounce arrival?
Say uh-RYE-vul, with the stress on the second syllable. In IPA it is /əˈraɪvəl/ in both American and British English. The first syllable is a quick, weak “uh,” never “air.”
What does “new arrival” mean?
A new arrival is someone or something that has just come. Most often it means a newborn baby, as in “the family is expecting a new arrival.” Shops also use “new arrivals” for stock that has just come in.
Is it “on arrival” or “upon arrival”?
Both are correct and mean the same thing: at the moment you get there. “On arrival” is more common in everyday English. “Upon arrival” sounds slightly more formal and often appears on hotel and travel notices.
Where does the word arrival come from?
It comes from Anglo-French arrivaille, from Old French ariver, “to come to land.” That goes back to Latin ad ripam, “to the shore.” In English the word first meant landing at the end of a sea voyage, in the late 14th century, and the general sense of finishing any journey followed in the 1510s.
Is this site the official StarDict website?
No. Star Dictionary is an independent words and language reference and has no connection to the StarDict program. StarDict is maintained by its own developers, and its source code and official information are in the project’s own repository on GitHub.
Sources
- Merriam-Webster: entries for “arrival” and “arrive”
- Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries: entry for “arrival”
- Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline): entries for “arrival” and “arrive”
- Wikipedia: “StarDict” and “Arrival (film)”
- StarDict project repository on GitHub (huzheng001/stardict-3)
About this article
- Fact-checked before publication.
- Published · Updated