campaign
Americannoun
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campaigns
plural
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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.
-
-
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)
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campaigns,
present (3rd person singular)
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campaigned,
past participle, past
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campaigning
present participle
verb (used with object)
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campaigns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
campaigned,
past participle, past
-
campaigning
present participle
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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campaignsimple
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campaignssimple
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have campaignedperfect
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has campaignedperfect
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am campaigningprogressive
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are campaigningprogressive
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is campaigningprogressive
-
have been campaigningperfect progressive
-
has been campaigningperfect progressive
Past
-
campaignedsimple
-
had campaignedperfect
-
was campaigningprogressive
-
were campaigningprogressive
-
had been campaigningperfect progressive
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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Electoral Elocution: The Verbiage of Voting
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I Am Malala
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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.
See Examples For:
The 2015-16 Premier League winners then suffered a further fall from grace last term with a calamitous campaign that saw them drop into League One.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
Novo, which had been selling insulin for more than a century, didn’t run its first ad campaign for Wegovy until 2023.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
Kofman said a bombardment campaign, however, is unlikely to affect what happens on the front.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
El-Sayed, in the final week of the campaign, began to turn his attention to Mike Rogers.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
Throughout the Normandy campaign, the tenacity and ferocity of the SS-HJ division astounded the Allies, who had once called them the “Baby Milk Division,” due to their young age.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
The latest allegations circulated days before a $1,500-a-seat Los Angeles residency was set to begin, triggering boycott campaigns on social media, protests and the withdrawal of major sponsorships from Blackbird, Resy and American Express.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Parody campaigns targeting Meta smartglasses continue a “subvertising” tradition dating back to San Francisco’s Billboard Liberation Front in 1977.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Hydatid disease can be passed from dogs to humans, and public health campaigns about 25 years ago highlighted the importance of regular worming treatments and hand hygiene after handling animals.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
Rather than focusing on heritage or artisanal craftsmanship promoted in similar campaigns in Italy or France, Lithuania and its Baltic neighbours Estonia and Latvia are highlighting they are home to innovation.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
Even though I had befriended many white Communists, I was wary of white influence in the ANC, and I opposed joint campaigns with the party.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani successfully campaigned as a DSA member in 2025.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
Jackson, who campaigned heavily with Platner before the scandals, had the support of roughly 75 percent of the volunteers who rallied behind the now-disgraced former Senate candidate.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
Expect more twists and turns on future proposals as he receives feedback from politicians, voters and investors that he should have solicited sooner by developing a platform before he campaigned for the prime ministership.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Troy Jackson, a former Maine Senate leader, campaigned side-by-side with Platner during his bid for governor, and came in third.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
In their view, the man had campaigned his horse too conservatively.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Quiñonez, 30, has been campaigning to eradicate the practice in Colombia - where it is still practised by members of her Emberá Indigenous community.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Her London-based son Kim Aris has been campaigning to get Myanmar authorities to offer proof that she is alive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
These days, he said, campaigning has turned into an all-day affair, meeting people as he walks with his family around the district.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Beverley, her husband and other families are campaigning for changes to funeral parlour regulations, backed by a number of lawmakers.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Not only were Molly’s feelings now evident, but Oppenheimer s relentless campaigning against Harvard also had found its mark.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
