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caravan

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A convoy or procession of travellers, their cargo and vehicles, and any pack animals.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

karuhvan

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkæɹəvæn

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A convoy or procession of travellers, their cargo and vehicles, and any pack animals, especially camels crossing a desert.

  2. AustraliaBritishNew ZealandSouth Africa

    A furnished vehicle towed behind a car, etc., and used as a dwelling when stationary.

verb

  1. UKAustralia

    To travel and/or live in a caravan (vehicle).

  2. UKAustralia

    To travel in a caravan (procession).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
General and technical use

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A convoy or procession of travellers, their cargo and vehicles, and any pack animals, especially camels crossing a desert.

Used this way, caravan is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • van , used mainly in Regional English

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use caravan

  • “We were part of a caravan of almost a thousand camels.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Convoy / procession

caravan routecamel caravan

Other combinations

caravan parkcaravan tradewhole caravangreat caravansmall caravanlarge caravan

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • caravan innnounCompound term

    An inn in some eastern countries with a large courtyard that provides accommodation for caravans.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: convoy or procession of travellers

vanRegional

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.