boot camp

noun

1

: a navy or marine corps camp for basic training

2

: a disciplinary facility or program in which young offenders are forced to participate in a rigidly structured routine

3

: a place or undertaking that resembles a military boot camp especially by requiring one to endure intensive training or initiation

Nowadays, the more talented players view their college years as necessary boot camp to prepare them for the riches waiting for them in pro football.

—Anson Mount

These youngsters are put through what amounts to a boot camp of courses in music notation, basic harmony and ear-training.

—Smithsonian

Examples of boot camp in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Universities nationwide host the boot camps, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Notre Dame and USC. — Francesca Pinney, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2026

Some of the Guardians, as Space Force troops are known, received firearms training – for the first time since boot camp. — Anna Mulrine Grobe, Christian Science Monitor, 30 July 2026

The athletes will also go through the Presidential Fitness Test, a military-style boot camp circuit and an obstacle course. — Kinsey Crowley, USA Today, 26 July 2026

At the owner’s trial, several veterans described the boot camp as a slapdash operation that duped them with hollow promises of a good-paying career. — Andrew Ba Tran, Washington Post, 22 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1916, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for boot camp

• decamp
• encamp
• headlamp
• preamp
• revamp
• timestamp
• amp
• champ
• clamp
• cramp
• damp
• gamp

Kids Definition

boot camp

noun

: a camp where recently enlisted members of the Navy or Marine Corps receive their basic training