# fitness

Pronunciation: say "FIT-nuhs" /ˈfɪt.nəs/

## Noun

1. The practice of building and keeping a healthy or attractive body through exercise.
   - Simple: Working on your body to make it look good and stay healthy.
   - _His fitness improved dramatically after months of regular training._
   - _Many people take up running as part of a broader fitness routine._
2. The condition of being suitable, appropriate, or good enough for a particular purpose.
   - Simple: The state of being right or good enough for a certain job or purpose.
   - _The court examined the candidate's fitness for public office._
   - _Engineers tested the bridge's fitness to carry heavy loads._
3. The degree to which an organism or species succeeds in finding a mate and producing offspring.
   - Simple: How successful a living thing is at finding a mate and producing young.
   - _Biologists compared the reproductive fitness of the two beetle populations._
   - _Camouflage increases an organism's fitness in environments full of predators._
4. The quality of being physically attractive, good-looking, or desirable. *(slang, UK)*
   - Simple: The quality of being very attractive or good-looking.
   - _He turned heads all night, and everyone at the bar was remarking on his fitness._
   - _She fancied the lifeguard purely on the strength of his fitness._

## Origin

Formed from "fit" combined with the suffix "-ness." It was first attested in the 16th century, with the physical sense appearing in 1935.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fitness (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).