Gymnastics
noun
noun ·3 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A sport involving the performance of sequences of movements requiring physical strength, flexibility, and kinesthetic awareness. countable, uncountable
"Gymnastics was a significant part of the physical education curriculum."
- 2 a sport that involves exercises intended to display strength and balance and agility wordnet
- 3 Complex intellectual or artistic exercises or feats of physical agility. countable, uncountable
"His mental gymnastics are legendary."
Example
More examples"That school is equipped with the latest gymnastics apparatus."
Etymology
From gymnastic: see -ics; from Latin gymnasticus, from Ancient Greek γυμναστικός (gumnastikós), from γυμναστής (gumnastḗs, “athlete, gymnast”), from γῠμνᾰ́ζω (gŭmnắzō, “to train, exercise”), from γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”), because Greek athletes trained naked. By surface analysis, gymnast + -ics.
Related phrases
More for "gymnastics"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.