Paralympian
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 One who competes in the Paralympic Games.
"DICK MADURO … Paralympian"
- 1 Of or pertaining to a Paralympian (“one who competes in the Paralympic Games”).
"As girls and women of all stripes of ability around the world are encouraged to become involved in sport, and as nearly all nations submit Paralympian females, it is hoped that support for fellow athletes—emotionally as well as economically, is part of that process."
- 2 Of or pertaining to the Paralympic Games; Paralympic.
"Funds sought for ‘Paralympian’ trip [article title] […] At present, however, the Long Beach resident has more than records on his mind, mainly getting a representative U.S. team to the 1964 "paralympics" to be held in Tokyo Nov. 8–12. [Frank] Vecera is on a fund-raising drive for the six California athletes selected to perform on this year's team. The tab for transporting the six to Tokyo is $3,900."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"These are the "Paralympians," the wheelchair athletes of the world, whose own Olympics will be held in Tokyo immediately after the regular Olympiad. […] I spoke to two young Paralympians from the Long Beach area the other day, Frank Vecera and Bill Johnson. "I am only half here," Frank Vecera confided. He smiled when he said it."
Etymology
From Paralympic + -ian (suffix with the sense ‘having a certain profession’ forming nouns, or with the sense ‘from, like, or related to’ forming adjectives). Paralympic is a blend of paraplegic + Olympic; the Paralympic Games were originally organized for persons with paraplegia from spinal injuries, but are now participated in by sportspersons with all kinds of disabilities.
More for "paralympian"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.