expedition
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An organized group of people undertaking a journey for a particular purpose.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehkspuhdishuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɛkspəˈdɪʃən
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An organized group of people undertaking a journey for a particular purpose
“An expedition was sent to explore Mars.”
A trip, especially a long one, made by a person or a group of people for a specific purpose.
A journey taken for pleasure
A military campaign designed to achieve a specific objective in a foreign country
A military journey; an enterprise against some enemy or into enemy territory.
The process or activities of performing expediter tasks.
verb
intransitive
To take part in a trip or expedition; to travel.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An organized group of people undertaking a journey for a particular purpose
Used this way, expedition is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“An expedition was sent to explore Mars.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- junket , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use expedition
- “An expedition was sent to explore Mars.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An investigation undertaken in the hope (but not the stated purpose) of discovering information.
To travel for the purpose of discovery.
A military campaign designed to achieve a specific objective in a foreign country.
An overland journey by hunters (especially in Africa).
An expedition sent by Thomas Jefferson to explore the northwestern territories of the United States.
A military campaign designed to achieve a specific objective in a foreign country.
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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.