boot camp

American  

noun

U.S. Navy, Marines.

• boot camps
  plural

1. a camp for training recruits.

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boot camp British  

noun

1. slang a basic training camp for new recruits to the US Navy or Marine Corps

2. a centre for juvenile offenders, with a strict disciplinary regime, hard physical exercise, and community labour programmes

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• boot camps
  plural

Etymology

Origin of boot camp

An Americanism dating back to 1940–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

boot camp

I meet Draper, a billionaire tech investor himself, at Silicon Valley's Draper University, his boot camp for young tech founders, where students pledge to "promote freedom at all costs".

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

The CBC in those days was a bit like a boot camp for television.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

Last fall’s boot camp, at Wharton, had 46 participants and a waitlist of more than 120.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

One way to free up monthly cash flow is by adjusting how much you’re withholding in taxes, Joy, who runs the money boot camp “Crush Your Money Goals,” says.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 20, 2026

Papi had sobbed the day Carlos went off to boot camp.

From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer