campaign

campaign — noun

1. an organized set of actions carried out over a period of time, with the aim of r

1.nounC1
Definition

an organized set of actions carried out over a period of time, with the aim of reaching a specific result in politics, business, or social issues.

Example

The charity launched a campaign to raise money for clean drinking water in rural villages.

campaign + to-infinitive for purpose

Ravi helped run the mayor's re-election campaign by knocking on doors every weekend.

Common collocations
  • launch a campaign
  • run a campaign
  • join a campaign
  • lead a campaign
  • election campaign
  • advertising campaign
  • fundraising campaign
  • political campaign
Synonyms
  • drive

    more focused on a single intense push, often shorter in duration than a campaign

  • movement

    broader and more grassroots-oriented, not always formally organized

  • initiative

    stresses the first step of starting something; can be smaller in scale

Grammar Patterns

campaign + for/against + noun

Usage Note

Often followed by a to-infinitive stating the goal, or by for/against + noun to indicate the target of the effort.

Common Mistakes

They started a campaign for reduce pollution.
They started a campaign to reduce pollution.
after 'campaign', use a to-infinitive, not 'for + verb'.

2. a sequence of military actions — such as battles, attacks, or movements — that t

2.nounC1
Definition

a sequence of military actions — such as battles, attacks, or movements — that together form one stage of a war and are aimed at a specific strategic outcome.

Example

The general planned a winter campaign to push enemy forces back across the river.

military context: push enemy forces

During the desert campaign, the troops faced extreme heat and supply shortages.

Common collocations
  • military campaign
  • naval campaign
  • bombing campaign
  • winter campaign
  • desert campaign
  • plan a campaign
  • call off a campaign
Synonyms
  • offensive

    emphasizes the attacking side; shorter than a full campaign

  • operation

    a single coordinated action, smaller than an entire campaign

  • maneuver

    a specific movement or set of movements, not the whole series

Usage Note

Domain-specific to war and armed conflict. Unlike the PLANNED ACTIVITIES sense, this sense does not take a to-infinitive goal-phrase.

Common Mistakes

The company started a military campaign to sell more phones.
The company started an advertising campaign to sell more phones.
'military campaign' refers only to actual warfare, not aggressive business tactics.

campaign — verb

Word family

  • campaigner
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe organized efforts toward a goal, but they differ in scope and tone. A drive is usually a short, intense push for a specific target — like a fundraising drive or a vaccination drive. A movement is broader and more grassroots-oriented, often lacking a formal center; the civil rights movement is not a single campaign but a collection of them. An initiative stresses the act of starting something — it can be as small as an office recycling initiative. A crusade adds moral passion and a sense of righting a wrong, which can sound either inspirational or aggressive depending on context. A campaign sits in the middle: formally planned, time-limited, and purpose-driven. Use campaign when the effort has clear stages and a defined end goal — for example, 'an election campaign' has a finish date, whereas 'a movement for justice' does not.

drive ↗movement ↗initiative ↗crusade

Common collocations

Phrases

  • launch a campaign
  • run a campaign
  • join a campaign
  • lead a campaign
  • mount a campaign
  • campaign for
  • campaign against

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

The word entered English in the 1600s from French 'campagne', meaning 'open country' or 'field'. It was first used in a military sense — armies would go on campaign by moving through open country to fight. By the 1700s, the word broadened to include any organized series of actions aimed at a goal, especially in politics.