Dictionary

expedition en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ɛkspəˈdɪʃən/ (UK, US)

Etymology

From Middle French expédition, and its source, Latin expeditio.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A military journey; an enterprise against some enemy or into enemy territory.
   • Once established in their capital at Nanking, occupied March, 1853, and renamed “Heavenly Capital” (T’ien-ching), the Taipings sent out an expedition to take Peking which again made striking gains initially, but was eventually slowed, isolated, and defeated. 1960, “The Heavenly Kingdom of the Taipings”, in Wm. Theodore de Bary, Wing-tsit Chan, Chester Tan, compilers, Sources of Chinese Tradition, volume II, New York; London: Columbia University Press, →OCLC, pages 21–22:
2. (countable, uncountable) An important or long journey, for example a march or a voyage.
3. (countable, uncountable) A trip, especially a long one, made by a person or a group of people for a specific purpose.
   • an expedition across the Alps
   • Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition was lost with two ships and 129 men, inspiring dozens of subsequent expeditions to find and rescue him, none of them successful. 1989 May, Jeff MacInnis, “Braving the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 586:
   • a naval expedition
   • a scientific expedition
4. (collective, countable, uncountable) The group of people making such excursion.
5. (countable, uncountable) The process or activities of performing expediter tasks.
6. (archaic, countable, uncountable) The quality of being expedite; speed, quickness.
   • The photographer had photographed, the doctor had certified life extinct, the pathologist had inspected the body in situ as a prelude to conducting his autopsy – all with an expedition quite contrary to the proper pace of things, merely in order to clear the way for the visiting irregular, as the Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Crime and Ops) had liked to call him. 1979, John Le Carré, Smiley's People, Folio Society, published 2010, page 33:
   • one of them began to come nearer our boat than at first I expected; but I lay ready for him, for I had loaded my gun with all possible expedition […]. 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
   • He saw the same Turnkey unfetter a man / With but little expedition, / Which put him in mind of the long debate / On the Slave-trade abolition. 1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 86:
   • he presently exerted his utmost agility, and with surprizing expedition ascended the hill. 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 331:
7. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) The act of expediting something; prompt execution.
   • My Lord the great Commander of the worlde, […] Hath now in armes ten thouſand Ianiſaries, […] And for the expedition of this war, If he thinke good, can from his garriſons, UUithdraw as many more to follow him. c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

Forms

Deriveds

fishing expedition · expeditionist · DXpedition · expeditionary · DX-pedition · sexpedition

Relateds

field trip · exploration · excursion

Translations (43)

cmn 遠征 (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · io expediciono (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · ru экспеди́ция (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · hu felfedezőút (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · fi tutkimusretki (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · de Expedition (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · ja 遠征 (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · eo ekspedicio (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · it spedizione (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · cy alldaith (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · pl wyprawa (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · hu felfedezőcsapat (a group of people making a long trip) · ms ekspedisi (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · cs expedice (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · hy արշավ (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · pl ekspedycja (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · fr expédition (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · hu expedíció (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · sa यामन् (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · ms penerokaan (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · la expedītiō (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · tr sefer (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · zza sefer (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · es expedición (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · da ekspedition (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · mi pahī (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · fi retkikunta (a group of people making a long trip) · no ekspedisjon (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · mi pahī (a group of people making a long trip) · nb oppdagelsesreise (a group of people making a long trip) · sv expedition (a group of people making a long trip) · fi tutkimusmatka (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · sv expedition (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · nb ekspedisjon (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · bg експеди́ция (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · id ekspedisi (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · egy V25-i-i-t: (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · mk експеди́ција (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · pt expedição (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · grc στόλος (a group of people making a long trip) · zza geyrık (a group of people making a long trip) · ota سفر (An important enterprise, implying a change of place) · nl expeditie (An important enterprise, implying a change of place)

expedition en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ɛkspəˈdɪʃən/ (UK, US)

Etymology

From Middle French expédition, and its source, Latin expeditio.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To take part in a trip or expedition; to travel.
   • The attendance was given color by the ISO women who graced some of the sessions, attended the social events and expeditioned around the famous spots in Washington and its periphery area. 1950, Sewage and Industrial Wastes Engineering, volume 21, page 588:
   • I feel uprooted from the vital connections to Salley, to home, stranded with only the mountain and my fellow madmen as company. These thoughts appear like a mirage, a hallucination, a symptom of the schizophrenia of expeditioning. 1998, Greg Child, Thin Air: Encounters in the Himalayas, page 185:

Forms