crusade
Americannoun
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crusades
plural
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Often Crusade any of the military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Europe in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries for the recovery of the Holy Land from the Muslims.
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any war carried on under papal sanction.
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any vigorous, aggressive movement for the defense or advancement of an idea, cause, etc..
a crusade against child abuse.
verb (used without object)
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crusades,
present (3rd person singular)
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crusaded,
past participle, past
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crusading
present participle
noun
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(often capital) any of the military expeditions undertaken in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries by the Christian powers of Europe to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims
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(formerly) any holy war undertaken on behalf of a religious cause
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a vigorous and dedicated action or movement in favour of a cause
verb
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to campaign vigorously for something
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to go on a crusade
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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crusadesimple
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crusadessimple
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have crusadedperfect
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has crusadedperfect
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am crusadingprogressive
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are crusadingprogressive
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is crusadingprogressive
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have been crusadingperfect progressive
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has been crusadingperfect progressive
Past
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crusadedsimple
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had crusadedperfect
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was crusadingprogressive
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were crusadingprogressive
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had been crusadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crusade
First recorded in 1570–80; earlier crusada, from Spanish cruzada; replacing croisade, from Middle French. See cross, -ade 1
Explanation
If you go on a crusade against vegetables, you are waging a long-term battle against leafy greens. A crusade is a passionate struggle against something or someone. In the 11th through 13th centuries, Roman Catholics attempting to win control of parts of what they considered the Holy Land (currently Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, and Palestinian lands) waged military battles against the Muslims who controlled the land. These battles are called the Crusades. The word crusade carries with it the feeling of a violent and vigorous fight. So if someone is on a crusade to do something, they mean business!
Vocabulary lists containing crusade
Vocabulary from "Stop Expecting Games to Build Empathy" by Julie Muncy
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Richard Nixon's "Checkers" Speech (1952)
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The Middle East and Central Asia - Introductory
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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:
Vitamin C was filed away with other “alternative” remedies, and Pauling’s late-career crusade was widely seen as a sad mistake.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
Now, under mounting international pressure, authorities are on a crusade to rid the country of that reputation.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
The crusade to prevent skin-cancer deaths, Mr. Jacobsen argues, has fostered an absolutism about the risks of sunlight that permeates the media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
But that crusade was also fueled by nostalgia.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
Perhaps the Quarter will provide me with some material: a crusade for taste and decency, for theology and geometry, perhaps.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Its glacial flatness doesn’t lend itself to crusades, or to impressive scenes like a man on horseback silhouetted against the sunset.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado have sought Moretta’s counsel and helped parishioners in their various crusades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
The campaign takes a page from other Rust Belt cities, including Detroit and South Bend, that have undertaken big blight elimination crusades, with varying degrees of success.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
When Richard the Lionheart led crusades to the Middle East they were funded by crippling taxes at home.
From Barron's ● Mar. 19, 2026
Combating mitigation has become one of the great crusades in commercial aviation in the past fifteen years.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
Hutchinson said residents have responded in force to his call for emergency sidewalks repairs, just as they did when he crusaded for a crackdown on widespread illegal dumping.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026
His team said several Moscow churches refused to hold the funeral for the man who crusaded against official corruption and organized massive protests.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2024
In addition to convicting Nazi war criminals, he crusaded for an international criminal court.
From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2023
Paul Morantz, a California lawyer who crusaded against brainwashing self-help gurus, crooked psychotherapists and menacing cults, including one that nearly killed him with a rattlesnake, died Oct.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2022
He was a militant idealist who crusaded against racial bigotry by growing faint in its presence.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Roberts won a lead actress Oscar in 2001 for playing a crusading real-life legal clerk in “Erin Brockovich,” a role that perfectly combined her acting strengths and star wattage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025
But the anti-drug crusading president thought that he, too, had been “treated very unfairly” and deserved a break.
From Salon ● Dec. 2, 2025
The items reportedly also include documents from the Teutonic Order -- a Catholic brotherhood of crusading knights active in the Middle Ages.
From Barron's ● Nov. 30, 2025
What the Bullmers and company should have known is not to bring a crusading journalist aboard a boat where so much skullduggery is on the itinerary, and so many spoilers in the cargo hold.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
She could keep trusting Mom and Dad, and keep being my whining, chess-playing, crusading Charlemagne.
From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia
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.
