camper

American  

[kam-per] / ˈkæm pər /

noun

• campers
  plural

1. a person who camps out for recreation, especially in the wilderness.

2. a person who attends a summer camp or day camp.

3. Also called pickup camper, truck camper. a trucklike vehicle, van, or trailer that is fitted or suitable for recreational camping, or a pickup truck on which a structure fitted for camping is mounted.

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verb (used without object)

1. to travel and live in a vehicular camper.

   We're going to camper for two weeks during our vacation.

camper British  

/ ˈkæmpə /

noun

1. a person who lives or temporarily stays in a tent, cabin, etc

2. a vehicle equipped for camping out

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• campers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of camper

1625–35; 1960–65 camper for def. 3; camp ¹ + -er ¹

Explanation

Anyone who regularly hikes into the woods, pitches a tent, and spends the night under the stars, snuggled into a sleeping bag, is a camper. People who go camping are campers, whether they sleep under the stars, in a cabin, or in a fancy Winnebago. And if you do have a recreational vehicle, you can say you're a camper who sleeps in your camper! The common colloquial phrase happy camper was coined in the 1980s: when you're a happy camper, you're as content as a kid who's having a blast at summer camp, paddling canoes on the lake and eating s'mores by the fire.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

camper campers

On the outskirts of the capital, Palma, some locals who can no longer afford an apartment live in sprawling communities of camper vans.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

Begoña Iglesias, 62, began living in a camper she shares with her son, Hector, about four years ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

By the first week of January, she moved her belongings into a rented stationary camper situated on a ranch owner’s sprawling land, that they’d lived on for more than 25 years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

A year after a tree branch fell at a Calabasas summer camp and killed a camper, the child’s family has reached a settlement with three organizations totaling almost $20 million.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

He’d just look out the window of the camper van we lived in back then like the answer was out there.

From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden

Advocates for people living outside, in campers and other makeshift quarters have long expressed the worry that those vulnerable people get shunted aside when major events come to town.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

Last summer a group of old campers returned to Woodruff for a reunion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Local news coverage and social media posts about the lines, traffic, and campers get the Cane’s name in front of plenty of people who would’ve never heard about the chain in the first place.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

Around 700 people left their homes as a precaution in Le Porge, where more than 3,000 campers were also relocated, the prefecture said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

Other campers at Camp Half-Blood came to her for advice all the time.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan