Phenom

//ˈfɛ.nəm// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Someone or something that is phenomenal, especially a promising young player in sports like baseball, American football, basketball, tennis, and golf.

    "Managed and shortstopped by George Wright and full of league stalwarts—Joe Start, Paul Hines, and Jim O'rourke—they also had 1-year-old phenom Monte Ward as primary moundsman (teams now generally used multiple pitchers)."

  2. 2
    One who is hip and fashionable.

    "Jones is a pop-culture phenom whose bold antics, outlandish personality, and dazzling looks defied all norms."

Synonyms

All synonyms
child prodigyphenomenonwonderchildwunderkind

Example

More examples

"Managed and shortstopped by George Wright and full of league stalwarts—Joe Start, Paul Hines, and Jim O'rourke—they also had 1-year-old phenom Monte Ward as primary moundsman (teams now generally used multiple pitchers)."

Etymology

Clipping of phenomenon (“remarkable occurrence”). American English, c. 1890s.

Related phrases

american football

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.