driver
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driver¹
- /ˈdɹaɪ.və/ UK
- /ˈdɹaɪvɚ/ US
Rhymes with -aɪvə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From Middle English drivere, dryvere, dryvare, equivalent to drive + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Drieuwer (“driver”), Dutch drijver (“driver”), German Low German Driever (“driver”), German Treiber (“driver”), Swedish drivare (“driver”).
noun drivers
- One who drives something. Luke North was working in the North East District when Harry Patterson the pony driver came by. It was 5.45 o'clock. Luke smelt danger in the air. He walked round the pony to speak with Harry […]
- A person who drives a motorized vehicle such as a car, truck, bus, train, forklift, etc. The driver will make an announcement when the trip is nearing its completion.
- A pilot (person who flies aircraft).
- A person who drives livestock: a drover. Up until 1872 there was not over 150 miles of railroad in the state [Texas], that was from Galveston to Houston, and a short line from Houston to Brazoria, twenty-five miles in length, and one road from Harrisburg to Alton, three miles east of Columbus. So the cattle driving to Kansas was the only h
- Something that drives something else. The character of work is a driver of social change, at the same time that any new forms of work are the result of broader social change.
- A device driver; a program that acts as an interface between an application and hardware, written specifically for the device it controls.
- A golf club used to drive the ball a great distance. The brassey much resembled the driver, but the iron opened out quite a new field of practice; […]
- A kind of sail, smaller than a fore and aft spanker on a square-rigged ship, a driver is tied to the same spars.
- A factor contributing to something; a cause. Compared with June 2023, consumers’ perceptions of the main drivers of inflation shifted towards wages, although other input costs were still seen as the strongest driver overall.
-
Any driving element in any mechanism, which drives the driven element.
The driver engages the follower intermittently, as dictated by the solenoid.
Opposite: follower
- A mallet.
- A tamping iron.
- A cooper's hammer for driving on barrel hoops.
- A screwdriver, a nutdriver, or a bit for such a tool; such bits include nutsetters. Among the driver and screw types available, you'll find several cross-slot varieties including the Reed & Prince […]
- A device that converts an electrical signal to sound waves; the principal component of loudspeakers and headphones.
- A driving wheel of a locomotive. The later iterations of these locomotives had 56-inch drivers.
Driver²
- /ˈdɹaɪvɚ/ US
proper noun
- A surname. Blank's former girlfriend Debi Newberry (Minnie Driver), whom he jilted in high school, now works as a radio DJ.
- An unincorporated community in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States.
- A neighbourhood in the city of Suffolk, Virginia, United States.
- An inner suburb of Palmerston, Northern Territory, Australia.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: device driver, motorist, passenger, motorman, vehicle, car, driving, chauffeur, taxi, cabbie, cab, road, locomotive, wheel, coachman, gearbox
Translations
Every language
noun one who drives something, e.g. cattle
| Español | conductor, conductora |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 驅趕動物者 /驱赶动物者 qūgǎn dòngwù zhě |
| हिन्दी | चालक cālak |
| Kiswahili | dereva, mwendeshaji |
| Português | condutor, condutora |
| Français | conducteur, conductrice, traqueur, traqueuse |
| Deutsch | Treiber, Treiberin |
| Italiano | conducente |
| Ελληνικά | οδηγός odigós |
| Română | conducător |
| Русский | пого́нщик pogónščik, пого́нщица pogónščica |
| العربية | سَائِق sāʔiq |
noun something that drives something
| हिन्दी | चालक cālak |
|---|---|
| Kiswahili | dereva |
| Português | condutor |
| Italiano | aspirazione, desiderio |
| Ελληνικά | οδηγός odigós |
| Русский | дви́житель dvížitelʹ |
noun person who drives some other vehicle
| Español | conductor, conductora, manejador |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 운전사 unjeonsa, 운전자 unjeonja, 기사 gisa, 드라이버 deuraibeo |
| 日本語 | 運転手 untenshu, 運転者 untensha, ドライバー doraibā |
| 中文 | 司機 /司机 sījī, 駕駛員 /驾驶员 jiàshǐyuán, 駕駛者 /驾驶者 jiàshǐzhě |
| हिन्दी | चालक cālak, ड्राइवर ḍrāivar |
| Kiswahili | dereva |
| Português | piloto, pilota |
| Français | conducteur, conductrice |
| Deutsch | Fahrer, Fahrerin |
| Ελληνικά | οδηγός odigós, μηχανοδηγός michanodigós |
| Română | pilot |
| Русский | води́тель vodítelʹ, води́тельница vodítelʹnica |
| العربية | سَائِق sāʔiq |
| עברית | נַהָג nahág, נֶהָג nehág, נהגת naheget |
noun person who drives a motorized vehicle, such as a car or a bus
| Español | conductor, conductora, chofer, manejador, chófer, chafirete |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 운전사 unjeonsa, 운전자 unjeonja, 기사 gisa, 운전기사 unjeon'gisa, 드라이버 deuraibeo |
| 日本語 | 運転手 untenshu, 運転者 untensha, ドライバ doraiba, ドライバー doraibā |
| 中文 | 司機 /司机 sījī, 駕駛員 /驾驶员 jiàshǐyuán, 駕駛者 /驾驶者 jiàshǐzhě |
| हिन्दी | चालक cālak, ड्राइवर ḍrāivar |
| Kiswahili | dereva |
| Português | motorista, condutor, condutora |
| Français | conducteur, conductrice, chauffeur, chauffeuse |
| Deutsch | Fahrer, Fahrerin |
| Italiano | autista, guidatore, guidatrice |
| Ελληνικά | οδηγός odigós |
| Română | șofer, șoferiță, conducător auto |
| Русский | води́тель vodítelʹ, води́тельница vodítelʹnica, шофёр šofjór |
| Tiếng Việt | người lái, tài xế |
| العربية | سَائِق sāʔiq, سَوَّاق sawwāq |
| עברית | נַהָג nahág, נֶהָג nehág, נהגת naheget |
noun program acting as interface between an application and hardware
| Español | controlador, driver |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 드라이버 deuraibeo |
| 日本語 | ドライバー doraibā, ドライバ doraiba |
| 中文 | 驅動程式 /驱动程式 qūdòng chéngshì, 驅動程序 /驱动程序 qūdòng chéngxù, 驅動 /驱动 qūdòng |
| हिन्दी | ड्राइवर ḍrāivar |
| Kiswahili | dereva |
| Português | controlador, driver |
| Français | pilote |
| Deutsch | Treiber |
| Italiano | driver |
| Ελληνικά | οδηγός odigós |
| Русский | дра́йвер drájver |
Talk about this word "driver." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/driver. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. driver. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/driver "driver." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/driver.
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@misc{driver_2026,
title = {driver},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/driver},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
