noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of campfire
Explanation
A campfire is a small fire that you build when you're camping. A campfire is good for cooking food, boiling water, or warming your hands. Most boy and girl scouts learn how to build a campfire, which is useful when you're hiking or camping overnight. A campfire is perfect for toasting hot dogs and marshmallows, heating water for hot chocolate, and for sitting nearby when you tell ghost stories after dark. It's important to make sure a campfire is completely extinguished before you leave your camp site.
Vocabulary lists containing campfire
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.
See Examples For:
A man relaxing by a campfire watched with surprise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Hope was briefly sparked after a night-flying plane reported a person stoking a large campfire at Davis Lake below Mount Morgan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of these Silicon Valley campfire stories.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
Britain's The Guardian newspaper said the movie "entertains us with creepy campfire tales" but the Hollywood Reporter called it a "dull existential drama" while The Wrap website described it as a "frustrating slog".
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
“I’d jest come out of the War. I’d had my fill a-sleepin’ in the woods and cookin’ over a dang campfire.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
People are advised to take home litter, avoid smoking and using barbecues, and not to light campfires or bonfires.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Maine’s camp culture combines rustic canoe trips and campfires with a polished social ecosystem that brings convoys of black SUVs to the state every summer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Forest officials will, at times, limit campfires and stove usage because of elevated wildfire risk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2025
In Northern California, fire-evacuation “go bags” are normal, campfires are essentially a thing of the past, and even people living outside take fire risks seriously.
From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2024
Her children did not laugh, but eventually sang along when she left her tent to sit by the winter campfires, ringed by barbarians.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
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