expeditionary

Etymology

It is formed from English expedition + -ary.^[2][3][4][5] The noun expedition is from Latin expedītiō (“a military campaign”), a noun of action from expediō (“to make ready; to free”),^[3][2] literally to free the feet from fetters, from ex- (“out”) and the stem of pēs (“foot”);^[3][6] it is the source of expedite.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a noun, in the 1706 edition of Phillips's New World of Words, for an officer who handled dispatches at the papal court; this sense is obsolete.^[2] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1700–10.^[4] The adjective, of or relating to an expedition, is dated 1803 by Etymonline^[3] and 1817 by the OED and Merriam-Webster, whose first quotation is from the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine.^[2][5][7]

Semantic evolution

The noun expedition first meant a military campaign, and only from the 1590s a journey made for a purpose.^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the American Heritage Dictionary give, besides the general sense, the specific one of troops sent to serve abroad,^[8][6] as in the phrase expeditionary force.^[9][10][4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records a modern noun, a member of an expedition.^[8]

Timeline

• 1706 – noun, an officer in charge of dispatches at the papal court (obsolete by 1721).^[2]
• 1817 – adjective, of or relating to an expedition; sent on an expedition.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1803.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or making up an expedition.^[8][6][9]
2. Sent abroad for military service: The government dispatched an expeditionary force to the islands.^[8][6][10]

Noun

1. A member of an expedition.^[8]

Related words

• expedition
• expedite
• expedient

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press