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camp

camps; camped; camping; camply

When you camp, you set up a temporary place to sleep outdoors, often in a tent. Many people like to camp in a beautiful spot, like the mountains or beside a lake.

Use the word camp to describe what you do when you sleep under the stars, and also the site itself — after a day of hiking, you could say, "Let's head back to camp." You can also talk about your usual group of friends or co-workers as your camp. Political parties are described this way sometimes: "She was popular in the Democratic camp." The root is the Latin word campus, which means "open field, or level space."

Definitions of camp
  1. noun
    temporary lodgings in the country for travelers or vacationers
    “level ground is best for parking and camp areas”
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    types:
    tennis camp
    a camp where tennis is taught
    trailer camp, trailer park
    a camp where space for house trailers can be rented; utilities are generally provided
    type of:
    housing, living accommodations, lodging
    structures collectively in which people are housed
  2. noun
    temporary living quarters specially built by the army for soldiers
    “wherever he went in the camp the men were grumbling”
    synonyms: bivouac, cantonment, encampment
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    types:
    boot camp
    camp for training military recruits
    hutment
    an encampment of huts (chiefly military)
    laager, lager
    a camp defended by a circular formation of wagons
    type of:
    military quarters
    living quarters for personnel on a military post
  3. noun
    a site where care and activities are provided for children during the summer months
    “city kids get to see the country at a summer camp
    synonyms: summer camp
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    types:
    day camp
    a camp providing care and activities for children during the daytime
    type of:
    land site, site
    the piece of land on which something is located (or is to be located)
  4. noun
    shelter for persons displaced by war or political oppression or for religious beliefs
    synonyms: refugee camp
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    type of:
    shelter
    temporary housing for homeless or displaced persons
  5. noun
    a penal institution (often for forced labor)
    “China has many camps for political prisoners”
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    types:
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    concentration camp, stockade
    a camp where prisoners or persecuted minorities are forcibly confined, usually under harsh conditions
    labor camp, labour camp
    a penal institution for political prisoners who are used as forced labor
    POW camp, internment camp, prison camp, prisoner of war camp
    a camp for prisoners of war
    prison camp, prison farm, work camp
    a camp for trustworthy prisoners employed in government projects
    death camp
    a concentration camp where prisoners are likely to die or be killed
    gulag
    a Russian prison camp for political prisoners
    type of:
    penal facility, penal institution
    an institution where persons are confined for punishment and to protect the public
  6. noun
    a group of people living together in a camp
    “the whole camp laughed at his mistake”
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    types:
    hobo camp, jungle
    a place where hoboes camp
    type of:
    assemblage, gathering
    a group of persons together in one place
  7. verb
    establish or set up a camp
    synonyms: camp down
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    type of:
    pitch, set up
    erect and fasten
  8. verb
    live in or as if in a tent
    “Can we go camping again this summer?”
    “The houseguests had to camp in the living room”
    synonyms: bivouac, camp out, encamp, tent
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    type of:
    dwell, inhabit, live, populate
    inhabit or live in; be an inhabitant of
  9. adjective
    providing sophisticated amusement by virtue of having artificially (and vulgarly) mannered or banal or sentimental qualities
    “they played up the silliness of their roles for camp effect”
    synonyms: campy
    tasteless
    lacking aesthetic or social taste
  10. noun
    something that is considered amusing not because of its originality but because of its unoriginality
    “the living room was pure camp
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    type of:
    staleness, triteness
    unoriginality as a result of being dull and hackneyed
  11. verb
    give an artificially banal or sexual quality to
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    type of:
    alter, change, modify
    cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
  12. noun
    an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
    synonyms: clique, coterie, ingroup, inner circle, pack
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    types:
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    Bloomsbury Group
    an inner circle of writers and artists and philosophers who lived in or around Bloomsbury early in the 20th century and were noted for their unconventional lifestyles
    bohemia
    a group of artists and writers with real or pretended artistic or intellectual aspirations and usually an unconventional life style
    brain trust, kitchen cabinet
    an inner circle of unofficial advisors to the head of a government
    loop
    an inner circle of advisors (especially under President Reagan)
    cabal, camarilla, faction, junto
    a clique (often secret) that seeks power usually through intrigue
    junta, military junta
    a group of military officers who rule a country after seizing power
    maffia, mafia
    any tightly knit group of trusted associates
    faction, sect
    a dissenting clique
    galere, rogue's gallery
    a coterie of undesirable people
    hard core
    the most dedicated and intensely loyal nucleus of a group or movement
    splinter group
    a faction or sect that has broken away from its parent organization
    left, left wing
    those who support varying degrees of social or political or economic change designed to promote the public welfare
    right, right wing
    those who support political or social or economic conservatism; those who believe that things are better left unchanged
    old guard
    a faction that is unwilling to accept new ideas
    pro-choice faction
    those who argue that the decision to have an induced abortion should be made by the mother
    pro-life faction
    those who argue that induced abortion is killing and should be prohibited
    type of:
    band, circle, lot, set
    an unofficial association of people or groups
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘camp'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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