athlete
Pluralathletes
- 1Someone who plays or competes in physical sports, especially with a high level of skill.
The college recruited several promising athletes from across the state.
As a dedicated athlete, she balanced daily training with a full course load.
Similarsportsperson, sportsman, sportswoman, player, competitor
Note
In US and Canadian usage, the word stretches to anyone who plays a physical sport, especially with skill. That includes a sponsored player in any sport, a college recruit or a swimmer. The track-and-field meaning names a group of events, while this one names a kind of person. David S. Senchina's 2013 article in American Scientist, "Athletics and Herbal Supplements", uses athletics in the same broad way, for sport in general.
- 2A person who is exceptionally fit and physically capable.
At seventy, he remains a true athlete, swimming a mile each morning.
Years of manual labor made her a natural athlete with remarkable stamina.
- 3A competitor in track and field sports, including road running, cross country running, and racewalking.
Each athlete checked their spikes before the 400-meter final.
Marathon athletes and racewalkers shared the same training track that season.
Note
The oldest idea in the word is the prize. Greek athlētḗs comes from athléō, "compete for a prize", which is built on âthlon "prize" or âthlos "competition". It reached English through Latin āthlēta and Middle English. In this narrow use, the word covers track and field, road running, cross country and racewalking. A sprinter and a racewalker are both athletes here, but a footballer is not.
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Origin
The word came through Middle English from Latin "āthlēta" (and probably partly from Middle French "athlete"), which came from Ancient Greek "athlētḗs." That in turn came from "athléō" ("compete for a prize"), based on "âthlon" ("prize") or "âthlos" ("competition").