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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has campaignedperfect 3rd person singular
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have campaignedperfect
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has been campaigningperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are campaigningprogressive
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am campaigningprogressive 1st person singular
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campaignssingular 3rd person
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is campaigningprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been campaigningperfect progressive
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campaigningparticiple
Past
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had campaignedperfect
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had been campaigningperfect progressive
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was campaigningprogressive singular
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were campaigningprogressive plural
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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.
Raman’s campaign also received contributions from writers and comedians who have made up the council member’s donation base in her previous elections.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
Raman, a 44-year-old Democratic socialist, centered her campaign on affordability, following a similar playbook as that of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
But in recent weeks, the US has been pressing Israel to scale back its campaign to allow room for a wider deal with Iran, which has demanded that it also cover the conflict in Lebanon.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
He earlier held a campaign rally at the venue.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
As if to demonstrate that his questionable behavior in the presidential crisis of 1801 was no aberration, Burr repeated the pattern in 1804 during the campaign for governor of New York.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
