campus

noun

cam·​pus ˈkam-pəs 

often attributive

1

: the grounds and buildings of a university, college, or school

2

: a university, college, or school viewed as an academic, social, or spiritual entity

3

: grounds that resemble a campus

a hospital campus

a landscaped corporate campus

Examples of campus in a Sentence

Visitors crowded the campus on graduation day.

Rallies were held on college campuses across the country.

We walked around the campus on our first day.

Recent Examples on the Web

Despite spending the majority of his life in North Carolina and part of his youth in Charlotte, Miller noted that the 49ers’ campus was completely different from his last time turning off Highway 49. —Hunter Bailey, Charlotte Observer, 26 Mar. 2026

Back in 2017, as FIU expanded, many students were crossing Southwest Eighth Street to get to and from campus. —Johane Saintil, Miami Herald, 26 Mar. 2026

Other Gulf countries like Qatar have started to reopen campuses — and Saudi Arabia’s schools never closed — even as Iranian missiles and drones continue to hit cities. —Kelsey Warner, semafor.com, 25 Mar. 2026

The original 1981 film in the franchise, which debuted 45 years ago this spring, is a storyline set in 1936, but it is not set at any of our campuses in Indiana. —Philip Potempa, Chicago Tribune, 25 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin, "flat expanse of land, plain, field" — more at camp entry 1

Note: The English word campus, an Americanism, originally referred to a large open space on the grounds of a college, in accordance with the meaning of its Latin source. The earliest documented use, in 1774, was at Princeton University (then the College of New Jersey). This sense was noted by an English visitor to Princeton in 1833: "In front of the College is a fine campus ornamented by trees" (John Finch, Travels in the United States of America and Canada [London, 1833], p. 282). Shortly before this time campus was used in a description of another American school, South Carolina College (later the University of South Carolina): "… the whole [all of the college buildings] disposed so as to form a hollow square, containing about ten acres, which is called the Campus" (Robert Mills, Statistics of South Carolina [Charleston, 1826], p. 701). The use of campus apparently expanded with the growth of U.S. higher education after the Civil War, and the word began to take on an approximation of its current meaning. The etymology researcher Albert Matthews gleaned information from "college histories, college catalogues, and through correspondence" from 359 American institutions and discovered that among 295 "the meaning attached to Campus is that of the grounds in which the buildings stand, or the grounds in general" ("The Term 'Campus' in American Colleges," Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Transactions, vol. 3, March, 1897, p. 433-34). In the twentieth century the word was applied to the buildings as well as the grounds.

First Known Use

1774, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing campus

• big man on campus
• inter-campus
• off campus
• on campus

Rhymes for campus

• grampus
• hippocampus

Kids Definition

campus

noun

cam·​pus ˈkam-pəs 

plural campuses

: the grounds of a college or a school