Useful English Word or Phrase to Boost Your English

Camp

What does it mean?

Camp is an informal adjective used to describe something exaggerated, flamboyant, theatrical, or deliberately over-the-top - often with humour or irony. It's strongly associated with expressive performance and style, often within gay culture.

REAL WORDS.
REAL ENGLISH.
Native UK character with a collection of useful English phrases

Is it positive or negative?

It's usually positive or neutral - used to describe something colourful, expressive, or stylishly exaggerated.

When do you use it?

Use it to describe people, clothing, films, or performances that are delightfully theatrical, dramatic, or playful.

Examples

Example 1: That new musical is so over-the-top with the costumes and the acting - it's wonderfully camp.

Example 2: His choice of brightly coloured feathers in his hat was very camp.

NOW MAKE IT YOURS

Question for you

Can you think of a film or performer that you'd describe as camp?

Try saying your answer aloud, using the expression.

Practise it in a lesson

Are you looking for English speaking practice online?

Are you looking for English speaking practice online? Learn to understand and use colourful language like camp with precision! I offer online English lessons using Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom for my high-quality classes. My English speaking lessons are perfect if you are not getting enough speaking practice and want to improve your spoken fluency, accuracy, and learn nice, natural vocabulary and expressions directly from a British native speaker. If you want to study English with a British native speaker online, you can find out more about lessons here. For another useful word, see hidden gem.

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