expedition
Americannoun
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expeditions
plural
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an excursion, journey, or voyage made for some specific purpose, as of war or exploration.
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the group of persons, ships, etc., engaged in such an activity.
a large expedition of scientists and military personnel.
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promptness or speed in accomplishing something.
He worked with great expedition.
noun
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an organized journey or voyage for a specific purpose, esp for exploration or for a scientific or military purpose
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the people and equipment comprising an expedition
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a pleasure trip; excursion
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promptness in acting; dispatch
Usage
What is an expedition? An expedition is an organized journey or voyage made with a specific purpose, as in Johann packed only a large backpack for the expedition across the Alps. An expedition can describe any trip made with a specific purpose or for the purpose of simple exploration. The term is used formally by militaries, cartographers, groups that aim to protect wildlife, and many others. For example, a military expedition is a specific type of military operation in which a group of soldiers move into a foreign country to accomplish a task. Expedition can also be used to refer to a pleasure trip, especially for a trip to a location that is farther than a person would normally go. Expedition can also refer to the group of people who go on the trip. For example, a scientific expedition to the rainforest can mean the trip to the rainforest or those who go on the trip. Example: We took an expedition around the world to see all the sights.
Synonym Usage
See trip 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of expedition
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin expedītiōn- (stem of expedītiō ) “a (military) traveling.” See expedite, -ion
Explanation
An expedition is an organized journey that is undertaken for a particular purpose, like a group of scientists launching an expedition to South America to seek out a new medicinal herb. An expedition is no walk in the park. It's a serious journey, often with a very specific purpose undertaken by several people and lots of equipment. Sometimes, it can even be dangerous, like when the arctic adventurer was attacked by polar bears during an expedition to the Arctic. Needless to say, he hung up his explorer's hat after that expedition.
Vocabulary lists containing expedition
The Diary of Anne Frank
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Excerpt from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
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Julius Caesar
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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:
Scientists collected their measurements during an expedition aboard the Royal Research Ship Discovery around Greenland and the Davis Strait in spring and summer 2022.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026
The country also has three icebreakers and a support vessel currently on a monthslong scientific expedition north of Greenland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Griffin in turn filed a defamation suit, claiming the woman’s account was wholly false and lambasting the New York Times’ reporting as a “fishing expedition aimed at smearing” her.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
The avalanche struck on July 30, cutting off contact with the 10-member international expedition led by 43-year-old British-Nepali climber Purja on Broad Peak, one of the world's highest mountains.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
He even had the commercial smarts to form a film syndicate, based on the fame of his expedition photographer, an Australian named Frank Hurley.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Many people picture major paleontological discoveries happening during expeditions in remote landscapes.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
The few times he appeared outside those safe spaces came off as safari expeditions in a mysterious city the 42-year-old lifelong Angeleno obviously didn’t know.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Oceanwide’s roots stretch back to the Plancius Foundation, a Dutch research program formed in the 1980s that conducted annual expeditions to Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago where Longyearbyen is located.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026
He said he was contacted last year by Timothy Heng, a Singaporean who organised adventure expeditions, to guide a group of hikers up Dukono and other mountains in the region.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
Like most of his peers, he sought funding from corporate sponsors to pay for his expensive Himalayan expeditions.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
