travel through

Meanings

1. 1phraseintransitive

   to make a journey across or within a place, often from one side to the other

   Grammar: No object after 'through'; the place comes after 'through': travel through France.

   Patterns

   • travel through a place
   • travel through a country
   • travel through an area

   We spent three weeks traveling through Italy by train.

   She traveled through the desert alone last summer.

   They traveled through several small towns before reaching the coast.

2. 2phraseintransitivetechnical

   to move or be sent across something, especially light, sound, or a signal

   Grammar: Used for things like light, sound, or waves; the thing that moves comes before the verb.

   Patterns

   • travel through a medium
   • travel through space
   • travel through water

   Sound travels through water faster than it does through air.

   The signal travels through underground cables.

   Light from distant stars travels through space for many years.

Common combinations

travel through the night

We traveled through the night to reach the border.

travel through time

The novel's hero travels through time to ancient Rome.

travel through a tunnel

The train travels through a long tunnel under the mountain.

travel through unfamiliar territory

They were traveling through unfamiliar territory without a map.

Synonyms and how they differ

cross

Cross focuses on going from one side to the other, while travel through suggests a longer journey inside a place.

pass through

Pass through often means a brief stay on the way to somewhere else, whereas travel through can describe the whole journey.

Word family

traveler noun

a person who travels

travel verb

to go from one place to another

traveling adjective

moving from place to place, as in traveling circus

Commonly confused: travel through or travel across?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “travel through”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words