Meaning & use
campaigning
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“campaigning” is a form of “campaign”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
noununcountable
The activity of working in an organized way over time to win votes or to persuade people to support a cause.
Grammar: Not used with an or a plural: campaigning is hard work, not a campaigning.
Patterns
- campaigning for something
- campaigning against something
Campaigning for the mayor's job begins in early spring.
The charity relies on campaigning to raise awareness of clean water.
Months of campaigning left the candidates exhausted.
verbintransitive
Present participle of campaign: working in an organized way to achieve a political or social aim.
Grammar: No direct object; use for or against: she is campaigning for better schools.
Patterns
- campaigning for something
- campaigning against something
- campaigning to do something
She is campaigning for a new park in her neighborhood.
Residents are campaigning against the road plan.
The group has been campaigning to ban plastic bags.
adjectivebefore a noun
Involved in or relating to organized efforts to win support for a cause.
Grammar: Appears before a noun: a campaigning journalist.
Patterns
- a campaigning group
She is a campaigning journalist who writes about housing.
The campaigning group collected thousands of signatures.
He has a long record as a campaigning lawyer.
Word forms
| base form | campaign |
|---|---|
| third person singular | campaigns |
| past tense | campaigned |
Common combinations
- election campaigning
- Election campaigning moves online in the final week.
- campaigning for change
- They have spent years campaigning for change in the law.
- campaigning against
- Neighbors are campaigning against the new factory.
- go campaigning
- The senator went campaigning across the state.
- tireless campaigning
- Her tireless campaigning finally persuaded the council.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lobbying
- Lobbying means trying to influence officials directly, whereas campaigning usually aims at the public as well.
- canvassing
- Canvassing means going door to door to ask for votes or opinions, so it is narrower than campaigning.
- activism
- Activism describes a wider lifetime commitment to a cause, while campaigning usually belongs to a specific effort.
- promoting
- Promoting is a more neutral word and need not involve votes or political aims.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: campaigning or canvassing?
campaigning vs canvassing
Canvassing is asking people directly for support or votes; campaigning covers every part of the effort.
Practice
The residents spent the summer ___ the new highway, hoping the council would cancel it.
Choose one answer.
They want the highway cancelled, so campaigning against fits. Campaigning for would mean supporting it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “campaigning”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.