expedition
pronunciation
How to pronounce expedition in British English:
UK [ˌekspəˈdɪʃn]
How to pronounce expedition in American English:
US [ˌekspəˈdɪʃn]
-
- Noun:
- a military campaign designed to achieve a specific objective in a foreign country
- an organized group of people undertaking a journey for a particular purpose
- a journey organized for a particular purpose
- a journey taken for pleasure
- the property of being prompt and efficient
Word Origin
- expedition
- expedition: [15] The Latin verb expedīre originally had the rather mundane meaning ‘free one’s feet’ – from a snare, for example It was formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and pēs ‘foot’ (source of English pedal, pedestrian, etc and related to English foot). Its literal meaning was soon lost sight of, progressing via ‘extricate, liberate’ to ‘bring out, make ready’ and ‘put in order, arrange, set right’.The notion of ‘freeing’ something, enabling it to go forward without hindrance, is reflected in the verb’s English descendant expedite [17]. It also survives in the derived noun expedition, as ‘promptness, dispatch’; in the main, however, this has taken a different semantic route, via ‘sending out a military force’ to ‘long organized journey for a particular purpose’.=> expedite, foot, pedal, pedestrian
- expedition (n.)
- early 15c., "military campaign; the act of rapidly setting forth," from Old French expedicion "an expediting, implementation; expedition, mission" (13c.) and directly from Latin expeditionem (nominative expeditio) "an enterprise against an enemy, a military campaign," noun of action from past participle stem of expedire "make ready, prepare" (see expedite). Meaning "journey for some purpose" is from 1590s. Sense by 1690s also included the body of persons on such a journey.
Synonym
Example
- 1. 1911 Expedition photograph provided courtesy of the noaa photo library .
- 2. Roosevelt 's expedition helped make kenya the capital of the safari business .
- 3. Caver john pollack staged his first expedition to the site in 2006 .
- 4. But the virus finding was perhaps not the expedition 's most surprising microbial discovery .
- 5. The california academy of sciences discovered the brightly coloured slug during their 2011 philippine biodiversity expedition .