Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person possessing the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In Greek antiquity, one who contended for a prize in the public games.
- n. Hence—2. Any one trained to exercises of agility and strength; one accomplished in athletics; a man full of strength and activity.
Wiktionary
- n. A participant in a group of sporting activities which includes track and field, road running, cross country running and racewalking.
- n. US A person who actively participates in physical sports, possibly highly skilled in sports. (Known in British English as a "sportsperson".)
- n. An exceptionally physically fit person.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Antiq.) One who contended for a prize in the public games of ancient Greece or Rome.
- n. Any one trained to contend in exercises requiring great physical agility and strength; one who has great activity and strength; a champion.
- n. One fitted for, or skilled in, intellectual contests.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person trained to compete in sports
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētēs), from ἀθλέω (athlēō, "compete for a prize"), from ἆθλον (athlon, "prize") or ἆθλος (athlos, "competition"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Latin āthlēta, from Greek āthlētēs, contestant, from āthlein, to contend, possibly from āthlos, contest. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The screen cuts from a routine to a clip of a sportscaster interviewing the jump roper, using the word athlete to describe him.”
“I know it's golf so the term athlete is debateable but what about Curtis Strange. sure had me fooled.”
YesButNoButYes: The Reggie Cleveland All-Stars (Revised Edition)
“So what do you call the athlete who has no intention of waking up at 5 a.m. to train but who still wants to win?”
“Maiming an able bodied athlete is a lot easier than prescribing performance enhancing drugs.”
365 tomorrows » 2010 » March : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“Does one believe that the Black athlete is so much superior to the white athlete that absence of discrimination 100% of all professional athletes would be black?”
“Separating the athlete from the school would bring an end to major college sports as the bond between the team and school weakens anddies.”
“In many cases, there is an athlete from a poor family, whose talent is enough for a scholarship, which is his chance to get a college degree and “move up in the world”.”
“The ideal of the student athlete is part of the branding used by the NCAA and contributes to the overall marketability of these sports.”
“The African-American athlete is expected to act docile and not question the establishment even if wronged.”
“The reason a ticket price may go up when a new highly paid athlete is signed on to a team is because it is assumed that more people will want to come to the games, and so the stadium will charge more for greater profit, knowing that people will still pay the extra buck or two.”
Athletes and Entertainers, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘athlete’.
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Dramatic Nouns
Nouns to be used as descriptions while writing stories
night owl, early bird, hedonist, ascetic, derelict, explorer, radical, pity friend, cupid, truant, caretaker, guardian and 120 more...
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bbc uk china vocab.
conservationists, estimate, threats, infertility, eating away at, endangered, furry, panel, in trouble, gongs, triumphed, caps and 1007 more...
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*e?e
Words whose last and third-to-last letters are both "e".
here, eke, were, complete, mete, replete, adhere, where, mere, sphere, austere, aesthete and 99 more...
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SPOR - Olympic glossary
weightlift, orbitale, figure skate, speed skate, synchronizer, equestrian sport, bobsleigh, starting block, diesis, ligne, piste, water ski and 521 more...
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INTERP - sexist language
Problematic and recommended terms according to the EP's guide on gender neutral language use
writer, waitress, waiter, usher, mayor, head, chair, staff, nurse, actor, gender-neutral la..., biased and 103 more...
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work
director, president, chief, boss, consultant, adviser, assistant, advisor, specialist, manager, employee, counselor and 65 more...
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Summer Olympics - Beijing 2008
All things to do with the modern Summer Olympics
free tibet, flame, torch relay, host city, five rings, medal, delegate, official, athlete, team, contingent, sport and 72 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
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HorsesintheSouth
Words pertaining to horses, equines, equestrians
horse, equine, equestrian, dressage, hunter, jumper, puissance, capriole, sidepass, levade, augurian, coop and 296 more...
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Dxpert's Words
typically, analysis, theorem, definitely, label, absolutely, bored, awkward, unfortunately, drastically, appointment, stopped and 36 more...
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Most often mispronounced words
across, affidavit, antarctic, arctic, ask, athlete, barbiturate, barbed wire, business, cavalry, candidate, cardsharp and 50 more...
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Words Some People Can't Pronounce, No...
vietnam, nuclear, vietnamese, macrame, sandwich, peripheral, remuneration, wash, mischievous, february, wednesday, spaghetti and 38 more...
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Wide Wordie of Sports
soccer, baseball, football, basketball, polo, handball, triathlon, biathlon, heptathlon, decathlon, parkour, boxing and 56 more...
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sport
amateur, trainer, car racing, athlete, athletics, hunting, fishing, basketball, baseball, horse riding, boxing, gymnastics and 12 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for athlete.
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