caravan
Americannoun
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caravans
plural
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a group of travelers, as merchants or pilgrims, journeying together for safety in passing through deserts, hostile territory, etc.
- Synonyms:
- band, cavalcade, train, procession, parade
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any group traveling in or as if in a caravan and using a specific mode of transportation, as pack animals or motor vehicles.
a caravan of trucks; a camel caravan.
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a large covered vehicle for conveying passengers, goods, a sideshow, etc.; van.
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Chiefly British. a house on wheels; trailer.
verb (used with object)
-
caravans,
present (3rd person singular)
-
caravanned,
past, past participle, past (especially British)
-
caravaned,
past participle
-
caravaning,
present participle
-
caravanning
present participle (especially British)
verb (used without object)
-
caravans,
present (3rd person singular)
-
caravanned,
past, past participle, past (especially British)
-
caravaned,
past participle
-
caravaning,
present participle
-
caravanning
present participle (especially British)
noun
-
-
US and Canadian name: trailer. a large enclosed vehicle capable of being pulled by a car or lorry and equipped to be lived in
-
( as modifier )
a caravan site
-
-
(esp in some parts of Asia and Africa) a company of traders or other travellers journeying together, often with a train of camels, through the desert
-
a group of wagons, pack mules, camels, etc, esp travelling in single file
-
a large covered vehicle, esp a gaily coloured one used by Romany Gypsies, circuses, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
caravansimple
-
caravanssimple
-
have caravanedperfect
-
have caravannedperfect
-
has caravanedperfect
-
has caravannedperfect
-
am caravaningprogressive
-
am caravanningprogressive
-
are caravaningprogressive
-
are caravanningprogressive
-
is caravaningprogressive
-
is caravanningprogressive
-
have been caravaningperfect progressive
-
have been caravanningperfect progressive
-
has been caravaningperfect progressive
-
has been caravanningperfect progressive
Past
-
caravannedsimple
-
had caravanedperfect
-
had caravannedperfect
-
was caravaningprogressive
-
was caravanningprogressive
-
were caravaningprogressive
-
were caravanningprogressive
-
had been caravaningperfect progressive
-
had been caravanningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of caravan
1590–1600; earlier carovan < Italian carovana < Persian kārwān
Explanation
A caravan is either a covered vehicle, like a wagon or a van, or a procession of vehicles. If you watch a parade with a long line of floats traveling one after another down the street, that's a caravan of floats. The word caravan comes from the Persian karwan meaning "group of desert travelers." A caravan can be a large group of people traveling together in one long line. It's also the term used for a camper that has a living area in it. In history, pilgrims often traveled like this, lugging all of their belongings with them in caravans, or covered horse-drawn carriages. It's also a verb: caravan with your neighbors on a group road trip.
Vocabulary lists containing caravan
Africa - Introductory
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Africa - Middle School
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Africa - High School
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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:
Her father Leo Steinem was a travelling salesman and, together with her mother Ruth and older sister Susanne, they lived in a caravan, crisscrossing the country.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
In an undeveloped eastern part of the city, the caravan turned off the pavement and bumped along a dirt road to an opening in the Joshua trees where a broken-down recreational vehicle came into view.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Since April, sites in Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and elsewhere have been transformed into caravan parks without permission.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
It had permission for one static and one touring caravan but building work took place between around 2018 and 2022.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
The caravan was in sight, on the other side of a large pool of groundwater, shaded by date palms.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
People also distributed hand-drawn maps for caravans to follow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
The summer count of caravans, carried out each July, saw a 44% rise between 2019 and 2025, from 3,113 to 4,471.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
He said not enough new sites for caravans were approved, and planning applications from Gypsies and travellers were stopped "dead in their tracks".
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
But the number of caravans without planning permission rose much faster.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
"Wine," Ser Jorah confirmed, "and he has some thought to recruit men for his army from the sellswords who guard the caravans."
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
“They met in a parking lot and they caravanned to a church on a Sunday morning when people were worshipping.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
We caravanned up to Massachusetts and I cried in bursts for much of the drive, especially when we passed minivans encrusted with bike racks full of little, brightly colored bikes.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 29, 2022
Cesar was there along with a contingent that had caravanned from the Willis Avenue Bridge.
From The Verge ● Sep. 13, 2021
Carnell’s mother, MaryJo Peacock, said she believed her daughter and Koslosky had caravanned in multiple cars with coaches and other players to that summer’s California tournament.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2020
We caravanned to Kerry’s hometown with a bunch of people, squeezing into a car with Henry and Willow, who was so pregnant the seat belt wouldn’t fit over her bump.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
As the rising sun spat fiery fuchsia across the sky, three companions and I caravaned to an unmarked trailhead near the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2024
They caravaned to the Swiss border, then Montemaggi and two of the men entered the woods.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 4, 2021
She became so close with her classmates that two years later, when the program was finished, the group of aspiring filmmakers caravaned across the country to move to L.A. together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2018
As the family caravaned to Harvard, Pam Ogletree tugged her husband’s Martha’s Vineyard baseball cap off his head and looked him over.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2017
Others started to get into it as we caravaned past the Villas at Versailles.
From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor
Highway capacity will be increased by a factor of four by caravaning.
From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2018
He built an empire based on caravaning — that’s what Australians call the popular pastime — and then invested in cycling, thoroughbreds, wine, soccer, basketball, technology and art.
From New York Times ● Jul. 5, 2018
Yet this week the New Jersey governor was in a relative wilderness, caravaning along the slushy roads of eastern Iowa and sporting a different pin on his suit jacket: the Iowa state flag.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2015
Yeah, caravaning is inherently silly, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying the British countryside.
From The Guardian ● May 17, 2012
Our only real disappointment is that caravaning makes you so tired that there is no chance of cricket, for we brought cricket things with us, but have never been able to use them.
From The Slowcoach by E. V. (Edward Verrall) Lucas
Horse-drawn caravans were used as mobile homes in the early 19th Century, but leisure caravanning expanded rapidly after World War One.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026
“We saw a large number of people influx into the city which is not uncommon with the caravanning and things we have witnessed over the years,” the chief said.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 27, 2023
The global market for camping and caravanning is expected to grow 6.6 percent from 2020 to 2025, according to Research and Markets.
From New York Times ● Aug. 28, 2022
Most post-apocalyptic fiction offers hope in some form, whether it’s the caravanning Shakespeare companies of Station Eleven or the new family the son finds in The Road.
From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2020
And truly speaking, apart from that “terrible hill” which, day after day, seems ever on ahead of us, but which we always manage to surmount, caravanning in summer has but few drawbacks.
From The Cruise of the Land-Yacht "Wanderer" Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan by Gordon Stables
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.
