Dojo
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A training facility, usually led by one or more sensei; a hall or room used for such training.
"I was to be there [Helsinki, Finland] for over two weeks; and because a hotel room affords a rather awkward place of practice, I went looking for a dojo. Finally after hearing rumors of dojos from various citizens I turned to the equivalent of Helsinki's Yellow Pages. There I found listed, under Meido-Kan, the name of one Kare K. Käyhkö."
- 2 The dojo loach, Japanese weather loach, or pond loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus), a freshwater fish native to East Asia.
"The head of the dojô is small, the mouth is surrounded by six or eight barbules as is the case with several species of fish which inhabit muddy streams. [...] A microscopic examination showed them [the barbules] to be rich in muscular fibres for movement, and through the centre run a thick bundle of very delicate nerve fibres which spread out on the surface of each barbule's tip. These, I suppose from the manner which the dojô dips its head down, assist in the search for food, [...]"
- 3 A room or other facility used for other activities, such as meditation or software development. broadly
"Earlier dojos were known as homebrew clubs. [...] In Silicon Valley, a dojo is defined as a do-ocracy where people come together based on shared interests and passions, such as coding and robotics. [...] David Crawley, a semiconductor physicist and founder of Hacker Dojo Robotics, shared with me that it had been a passion of his to pull robotics hobbyists together with 12 challenges in mind: drive around three cones, deliver a pizza from the front door of the dojo to a predetermined location inside, [...]"
- 4 Synonym of dohyo (“the ring in which a sumo wrestling match is held”).
"In this class of truck it’s all about torque, and the Hilux has that in spades. [...] Its traction control stamps the ground with the immovable authority of a sumo wrestler entering the dojo."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"I was to be there [Helsinki, Finland] for over two weeks; and because a hotel room affords a rather awkward place of practice, I went looking for a dojo. Finally after hearing rumors of dojos from various citizens I turned to the equivalent of Helsinki's Yellow Pages. There I found listed, under Meido-Kan, the name of one Kare K. Käyhkö."
Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese 道場 (dōjō, literally “place of the ways”). Doublet of dojang.
Borrowed from Japanese 泥鰌 (dojō, “pond loach”).
Related phrases
More for "dojo"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.