Definition of "expeditionary" []

• Relating to or constituting an expedition. (adjective)
• Sent on or designed for military operations abroad: the French expeditionary force in Indochina. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "America, with its efficient armed forces, with its unique experience in expeditionary missions, will be in an excellent position during the coming debt-renegotiating rounds."
• "Such developments, as Rumsfeld saw them, would help the United States react in expeditionary style to unforeseen emergencies, prosecute the war on terrorism, and hedge against a rising Chinese military without unnecessarily provoking it."
• "In layman's terms, I suppose the difference is that, in expeditionary warfare, we move in to beat up the natives while, in counter-insurgency, we stay still and they beat us up."