Suitor

//ˈsutɚ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who pursues someone, especially a woman, for a romantic relationship or marriage; a wooer; one who falls in love with or courts someone.

    "(Notice that "Lysias" begins from the realistic assumption that an attractive young man with many suitors will "gratify" one of them, the only question being which. Rightly or wrongly, he treats the question, "Shall I at all?" as already resolved.)"

  2. 2
    a man who courts a woman wordnet
  3. 3
    A person or organization that expresses an interest in working with, or taking over, another. broadly

    "[…] and Mortimer asserted he had no shortage of suitors ready, willing, and able to make acquisition loans […]"

  4. 4
    A party to a suit or litigation.
  5. 5
    One who sues, petitions, solicits, or entreats; a petitioner.
Verb
  1. 1
    To play the suitor; to woo; to make love.

Example

More examples

"Unsure of which suitor she wanted to marry, the princess vacillated, saying now one, now the other."

Etymology

From Middle English sutour, from Anglo-Norman suytour, seuter, from Late Latin secutor (“follower, pursuer”).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.