campaign
Americannoun
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the competition by rival political candidates and organizations for public office.
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a systematic course of aggressive activities for some specific purpose.
a sales campaign.
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Military.
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military operations for a specific objective.
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Obsolete. the military operations of an army in the field for one season.
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a story in a role-playing game, spread out over multiple play sessions, that usually keeps the same plot, setting, or main characters.
Last week we finished our campaign and I already miss it.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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a series of coordinated activities, such as public speaking and demonstrating, designed to achieve a social, political, or commercial goal
a presidential campaign
an advertising campaign
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military a number of complementary operations aimed at achieving a single objective, usually constrained by time or geographic area
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have campaignedperfect
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has campaignedperfect 3rd person singular
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is campaigningprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been campaigningperfect progressive
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has been campaigningperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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am campaigningprogressive 1st person singular
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are campaigningprogressive
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campaignssingular 3rd person
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campaigningparticiple
Past
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had campaignedperfect
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were campaigningprogressive plural
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was campaigningprogressive singular
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had been campaigningperfect progressive
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campaignedsimple
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campaignedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of campaign
First recorded in 1620–30; from French campagne, from Italian campagna, from Late Latin campānia “level district,” equivalent to Latin camp(us) “field” + -ān(us) -an + -ia -ia
Explanation
A campaign is any series of actions or events that are meant to achieve a particular result, like an advertising campaign of television commercials and Internet ads that tries to convince kids to buy bubble gum-flavored toothpaste. The noun campaign describes any group of actions that are done with an ultimate purpose in mind. The goal of a political campaign is to put a candidate in office. The goal of a military campaign might be to take over a city, as in General Sherman's Civil War campaign to capture Atlanta. Campaign can also be used as a verb, like when an environmental organization campaigns to prevent a developer from building a shopping mall by asking people to sign petitions and soliciting their members of congress.
Vocabulary lists containing campaign
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Bass helped Raman during a tough reelection fight in 2024, pushing for the Los Angeles County Democratic Party to endorse Raman and appearing in the candidate’s videos and campaign mailers.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
But this current campaign has left Sale battered and bruised and those foundations severely tested.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
Pratt, the onetime star of MTV’s “The Hills,” used his campaign to express his anger not just over the Palisades disaster but also the city’s handling of homelessness, crime and other issues.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
Nigel's academy at Goals in Wimbledon is part of Play Their Way, a coaching campaign backed by Sport England.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
France would contribute three divisions to the campaign, while Britain had nineteen divisions.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
