camp meeting
C2Historical, religious, cultural, formal; primarily American English.
Definition
Meaning
A large, multi-day religious gathering, typically held outdoors or in temporary shelters, for preaching, prayer, and worship, historically common in American frontier Christianity.
A term also used to describe any large, organised outdoor event with an emphasis on community, fellowship, and often a shared ideological or spiritual purpose, sometimes used metaphorically for intense, immersive gatherings.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
Originally an 18th/19th century American Protestant phenomenon, especially associated with Methodists and Baptists. Strongly evokes historical revivalism and frontier life. The 'camp' aspect refers to participants camping on-site for the event's duration.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
The term is almost exclusively American in historical and cultural reference. In British English, similar events might be called a 'religious convention', 'mission', or 'retreat', but lack the specific historical frontier connotations of 'camp meeting'.
Connotations
US: Strong historical/religious revival, community, frontier life, sometimes rustic/old-fashioned. UK: Very rare; if used, likely in a historical context about the US or understood as a type of outdoor religious gathering.
Frequency
High frequency in US historical/religious texts; very low to negligible in everyday modern British English.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
[verb] a camp meeting: hold/organise/attenda camp meeting [prepositional phrase]: of revivalists, on the frontier, in the woodsVocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “It was like a camp meeting – (figurative) a noisy, enthusiastic, and crowded gathering.”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Rare. Possibly used metaphorically: 'The sales conference turned into a real camp meeting of enthusiasm.'
Academic
Used in historical, religious studies, and American studies contexts to describe a specific socio-religious phenomenon.
Everyday
Very low frequency. Might be used in regions with a strong historical tradition or in religious communities preserving the practice.
Technical
A specific term in historiography and sociology of religion.
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- The community will camp-meet every summer on the old grounds. (Rare/archaic)
American English
- The early settlers would often camp-meet for days during the revivals. (Historical)
adjective
British English
- The camp-meeting tradition has largely died out here. (Descriptive)
American English
- They sang old camp-meeting hymns around the fire.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- We read about a camp meeting in our history book.
- In the 1800s, many people travelled for miles to attend a camp meeting.
- The annual camp meeting, held in a grove of pine trees, was a major social and religious event for the isolated frontier communities.
- Scholars argue that the camp meeting served not only a religious function but also acted as a crucial mechanism for social cohesion and cultural transmission on the expanding American frontier.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of a meeting where you have to CAMP because it lasts so long and is far from home. CAMP + MEETING = an extended outdoor gathering.
Conceptual Metaphor
COMMUNITY IS A TEMPORARY SETTLEMENT; SPIRITUAL REVIVAL IS A JOURNEY/WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE.
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Avoid direct translation as 'лагерная встреча', which sounds like a scout meeting. The concept is foreign; use descriptive phrases like 'религиозный съезд с проживанием в палатках' or the historical term 'кемп-митинг' with explanation.
Common Mistakes
- Using 'camp meeting' to describe a business team-building retreat (too strong a religious/historical connotation). Confusing it with a 'summer camp' for children.
Practice
Quiz
Which of these is the most accurate description of a traditional 'camp meeting'?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No. A 'summer camp' is typically for children's recreation and activities. A 'camp meeting' is a religious event for all ages, focused on revival services, though historically it involved 'camping' on-site.
Yes, primarily in some conservative Protestant denominations in the United States, particularly in the South and Midwest, often as annual traditions that consciously hearken back to historical practices.
A 'camp meeting' is a specific *format* for a revival—an extended, often residential, outdoor gathering. A 'revival' is the broader concept of a period of renewed religious enthusiasm, which could occur in a single church.
The phenomenon was uniquely American, born from the conditions of the frontier. British religious history did not have an equivalent widespread practice requiring multi-day travel and communal camping for worship.