field trip

American  

noun

field trips plural

1. a trip by students to gain firsthand knowledge away from the classroom, as to a museum, factory, geological area, or environment of certain plants and animals.

2. a trip by a scholar or researcher to gather data firsthand, as to a geological, archaeological, anthropological, or other site.

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field trip British  

noun

1. an expedition, as by a group of students or research workers, to study something at first hand

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• field trips
  plural

Etymology

Origin of field trip

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

field trip

Between blocks of talks, attendees partake in activities from the glacier show-and-tell to an iNaturalist BioBlitz in Stanley Park to a field trip to the local Renaissance faire.

From Slate ● May 8, 2026

Then, like a field trip, the group walks to church together.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026

On days when Eunise Perez has fewer kids in her care, her crew of little ones occasionally take a field trip to Andrade’s day care for joint activities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025

That was in 1992, and we actually took the cadets on a field trip to Los Alamos where the first nuclear weapon had largely been developed.

From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2025

Reminiscing about the kindergarten field trip to the basement, a tradition in the Lower School, Calder and Petra watched as the principal struggled with the bolt.

From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett