What does "baggage" mean?
Portable cases, large bags, and similar equipment for manually carrying, pushing, or pulling personal items while traveling
Baggage
/ˈbæɡɪd͡ʒ/ noun, slang
noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Portable cases, large bags, and similar equipment for manually carrying, pushing, or pulling personal items while traveling
- Grammar: baggage is listed as noun, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: luggage, apparatus, attache case, backpack.
- Usage evidence: Kyoko had the kindness to carry my baggage for me.
How to use "baggage"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "baggage" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "baggage" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "baggage" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "baggage" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "baggage" is acting as noun, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "luggage" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "baggage", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Portable cases, large bags, and similar equipment for manually carrying, pushing, or pulling personal items while traveling uncountable, usually
"Please put your baggage in the trunk."
- 2 cases used to carry belongings when traveling wordnet
- 3 Factors, especially psychological ones, which interfere with a person's ability to function effectively. informal, uncountable, usually
"This person has got a lot of emotional baggage."
- 4 the portable equipment and supplies of an army wordnet
- 5 A woman. Romeo and Juliet, 3.5. Lord Capulet to his daughter, Juliet. "Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o’ Thursday, Or never after look me in the face. Speak not; reply not; do not answer me." countable, derogatory, obsolete, usually
"Betty and Molly (they were soft-hearted baggages) felt for their master--pitied their poor master!"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 a worthless or immoral woman wordnet
- 7 An army's portable equipment; its baggage train. uncountable, usually
"Friedrich decides to go down the River; he himself to Lowen, perhaps near twenty miles farther down, but where there is a Bridge and Highway leading over; Prince Leopold, with the heavier divisions and baggages, to Michelau, some miles nearer, and there to build his Pontoons and cross."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Kyoko had the kindness to carry my baggage for me."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "baggage"?
Common synonyms include: luggage, apparatus, attache case, backpack, bad woman, bag.
How do you use "baggage" in a sentence?
Kyoko had the kindness to carry my baggage for me.
How do you pronounce "baggage"?
Pronounced /ˈbæɡɪd͡ʒ/.
Etymology
From Middle English bagage, from Old French bagage, baguage, from bague (“bundle, sack”), of Germanic/North Germanic origin, probably from the same ultimate source as Old Norse baggi (“pack, bundle”). Compare also bag. By surface analysis, bag + -age.