boot camp
Americannoun
noun
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slang a basic training camp for new recruits to the US Navy or Marine Corps
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a centre for juvenile offenders, with a strict disciplinary regime, hard physical exercise, and community labour programmes
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of boot camp
An Americanism dating back to 1940–45
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.
Luckily, the military already has tests: boot camp, infantry school and the job itself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The CBC in those days was a bit like a boot camp for television.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
Bernadette Joy, the founder of the financial boot camp Crush Your Money Goals, who paid off $300,000 in three years, says it might help to reframe your payment plan as a daily expense.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
At Chico State, Matthew Hernandez, a senior computer science major, enrolled in both a computer science boot camp, funded through Destino, and a calculus boot camp in the summer before his freshman year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026
He believed that any Navajo joining up would have a better chance of getting through boot camp than your average bilagaanaa.
From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac
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.
