caravan

1 of 2

noun

car·​a·​van ˈker-ə-ˌvan How to pronounce caravan (audio)
ˈka-rə-
1
a
: a company of travelers on a journey through desert or hostile regions
also : a train of pack animals
b
: a group of vehicles traveling together (as in a file)
2
a
: a covered wagon or motor vehicle equipped as traveling living quarters
b
British : trailer sense 1b

caravan

2 of 2

verb

caravanned or caravaned; caravanning or caravaning

intransitive verb

: to travel in a caravan

Examples of caravan in a Sentence

Noun a funeral caravan slowly making its way down the street bought a caravan and drove cross-country to California Verb We caravaned to the campsite.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
In any event, almost none of the people in the caravan were admitted. Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024 Large-scale caravans of migrants arriving from Central America. Whitney Eulich, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Mar. 2024 When the Dodgers brought their community caravan to Homeboy Industries recently, hundreds of fans of all ages happily lined up to take a picture with Valenzuela. Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 12 Feb. 2024 Bus caravans, trains and cars from across the country carried over 250,000 people to Washington D.C. that day. USA TODAY, 14 Jan. 2024 Joe Biden has recently begged Mexico to more vigorously enforce its laws, to dissuade migrant caravans from traveling through our southern neighbor as a land bridge. Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 5 Jan. 2024 The suspects all ran out of the Dodge caravan toward the disabled vehicle, which the driver had evacuated, video from the incident showed. Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2023 As the 49ers’ caravan headed to San Jose Mineta International Airport Sunday afternoon, hundreds of fans withstood heavy rain outside the team’s facility to cheer them onward to Las Vegas. Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 5 Feb. 2024 Momentum has since picked up, however, with 100 or more vehicles joining as the caravan headed southwest to Texas. Hannah Allam, Washington Post, 2 Feb. 2024
Verb
Groups will caravan along the reservoir to observe the eagles. Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 26 Jan. 2024 Together, these mostly mother-child pairs caravaned by bus and by train across a homeland pocked by shelling and missile attacks. Freep.com, 9 June 2023 State officials have organized occasional convoys to let residents caravan through the northern closures to make supply runs. Victoria Kim Ian C. Bates, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2023 The enslaved woman who slogged on foot behind her Mormon master’s caravan from Mississippi to Utah, and in 1851, from Utah to L.A. Mitchell S. Jackson, New York Times, 27 Dec. 2022 Firefighters have long been a part of the Tour de France caravan — the parade that winds through towns ahead of the peloton. Rick Noack, Washington Post, 23 July 2022 Three people in a large car caravan in the Brighton Park neighborhood were among nine people fatally shot overnight in Chicago, police said. Adriana Pérez, Chicago Tribune, 23 Oct. 2022 Before the game, newspapers had mentioned the plan of many Pine Bluff Zebras fans to caravan to the game, and so the piercing eye of suspicion soon squinted at Little Rock High students. Celia Storey, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2022 More than a few were skeptical of an EV off-roader, but everybody was on board for the plan: caravan a new Bronco, a Defender, and the R1T across two mountain ranges and a desert, and hit some technically difficult terrain along the way. David Ferry, Outside Online, 30 Sep. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'caravan.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Italian caravana, from Persian kārvān

First Known Use

Noun

1588, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1885, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of caravan was in 1588

Dictionary Entries Near caravan

Cite this Entry

“Caravan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caravan. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

caravan

noun
car·​a·​van
ˈkar-ə-ˌvan
1
a
: a group (as of merchants or pilgrims) traveling together on a long journey through desert or dangerous regions
b
: a group of pack animals or of vehicles traveling together one behind the other
2
: a covered vehicle
especially : one equipped as traveling living quarters

More from Merriam-Webster on caravan

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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