campus

C3A1M3P3U1S1
UK/ˈkæmpəs/UK/ˈkæmpʊs/US/ˈkænpəs/

noun

The grounds or property of a school, college, university, business, church, or hospital, often understood to include buildings and other structures.

“be on campus”

Very commonScrabble 12

Meanings

nouncampus (plural campuses or campusses or (nonstandard) campi)

plural campuses · plural campusses · nonstandard plural campi

  1. oftenThe grounds or property of a school, college, university, business, church, or hospital, often understood to include buildings and other structures.

    be on campus

    3 more examples

    The campus is sixty hectares in size.

    From their corporate campuses on the west coast, America’s technology entrepreneurs used to ignore faraway Washington, DC—or mention the place only to chastise it for holding back innovation with excessive regulation. They have, at times, invested in the low politics of self-interested lobbying […]. Yet unlike Wall Street[…]tech tycoons have remained largely aloof from the broader affairs of the nation’s capital.

    2013 August 24, Schumpeter, “Mr Geek goes to Washington”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850

    In addition to this signage there are promotional videos broadcast in English on television screens around the campus.

    2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 5
  2. An institution of higher education and its ambiance.

    During the late 1960s, many an American campus was in a state of turmoil.

verbcampus (third-person singular simple present campuses or campusses, present participle campusing or campussing, simple past and past participle campused or campussed)

present singular third person campuses · present singular third person campusses · participle present campusing · participle present campussing · participle past campused · past campused · participle past campussed · past campussed

  1. To confine (a student) to campus as a punishment.

    A secondary punishment was ‘campussing’, or confinement to a campus; and for the most trivial offences the treatment was a withering harangue from Mrs Wilmington, sometimes lasting for over an hour.

    1955, The Twentieth Century, volume 157, page 278
    2 more examples

    They hold sessions regularly and “campus” women for staying out late—and they do their best campussing at those times when they are sleepiest and meanest from being out until three and four themselves the night before.

    1932, The Syllabus, volume 48, page 444

    SM has been very patient but just last Friday one of them was campussed for two weeks with an automatic two day suspension if he didn't heed the campussing because of repeated contempt for fairly easy to fulfill sentences.

    1996 January 30, Maggie Smith, Evergreen School, quotee, “Attendance Issues”, in The 1996 Collection: Prepared for Sudbury Schools and Planning Groups, Framingham, Massachusetts: Sudbury Valley School Press, published August 1996, →ISBN, page 131
  2. climbingTo use a campus board, or to climb without feet as one would on a campus board.

    It is climbed or "campused" with only your arms and hands.

    2010, Stewart M. Green, Ian Spencer-Green, Knack Rock Climbing: A Beginner’s Guide, page 30
    1 more example

    Boulder campusing is a popular indoor training exercise among advanced climbers—it's also a heck of a lot of fun if you're strong enough to do it right!

    2016, Eric Horst, The Rock Climber's Exercise Guide, page 159

Origin

  1. Latincampus“field”
  2. Englishcampus

Borrowed from Latin campus (“field”). Doublet of camp and champ. First used in its current sense in reference to Princeton University in the 1770s.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic حَرَم اَلْجَامِعَة
  • حَرَم اَلْجَامِعَة (ḥaram al-jāmiʕa)grounds or property of a school, etc.
Bulgarian ка́мпус
  • ка́мпус (kámpus)grounds or property of a school, etc.
Catalan campus
  • campusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
Chinese Mandarin 校園 /校园, 馆区
  • 校園 /校园 (xiàoyuán)grounds or property of a school, etc.
  • 馆区 (museums)grounds or property of a school, etc.
Czech kampus, areál
  • kampusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • areálgrounds or property of a school, etc.
Dutch campus
  • campusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
Finnish kampus
  • kampusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
French campus
  • campusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
German Campus, Universitätsgelände
  • Campusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • Universitätsgeländegrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • Unigeländegrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • Hochschulgeländegrounds or property of a school, etc.
Hebrew קמפוס
  • קמפוס (kámpus)grounds or property of a school, etc.
Hindi परिसर, प्रांगण
  • परिसर (parisar)grounds or property of a school, etc.
  • प्रांगण (prāṅgaṇ)grounds or property of a school, etc.
Indonesian kampus
  • kampusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
Irish campas, campas
  • campasgrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • campasAn institution of higher education and its ambiance
Italian campus
  • campusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
Japanese キャンパス, キャンパス
  • キャンパス (kyanpasu)grounds or property of a school, etc.
  • キャンパス (kyanpasu)An institution of higher education and its ambiance
Korean 캠퍼스, 캠퍼스
  • 캠퍼스 (kaempeoseu)grounds or property of a school, etc.
  • 캠퍼스 (kaempeoseu)An institution of higher education and its ambiance
Malay kampus
  • kampusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
Māori papa akoranga, papa akoranga
  • papa akorangagrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • papa akorangaAn institution of higher education and its ambiance
Persian پردیس
  • پردیس (pardis)grounds or property of a school, etc.
Polish kampus
  • kampusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
Portuguese campus
  • campusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
Romanian campus, teren universitar
  • campusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • teren universitargrounds or property of a school, etc.
Russian ка́мпус, ка́мпус
  • ка́мпус (kámpus)grounds or property of a school, etc.
  • ка́мпус (kámpus)An institution of higher education and its ambiance
Scottish Gaelic àrainn
  • àrainngrounds or property of a school, etc.
Spanish campus
  • campusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
Swahili kampasi
  • kampasigrounds or property of a school, etc.
Swedish campus
  • campusgrounds or property of a school, etc.
Thai วิทยาเขต
  • วิทยาเขต (wít-tá-yaa-kèet)grounds or property of a school, etc.
Turkish kampüs, yerleşke
  • kampüsgrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • yerleşkegrounds or property of a school, etc.
Ukrainian ка́мпус
  • ка́мпус (kámpus)grounds or property of a school, etc.
Vietnamese khuôn viên, khu học xá
  • khuôn viêngrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • khu học xágrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • sân trườnggrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • cơ sởgrounds or property of a school, etc.
  • khu trườngAn institution of higher education and its ambiance
Cite this entry
APA

campus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/campus

MLA

“campus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/campus. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “campus,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/campus.

Source: campus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.