Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Activities, such as sports, exercises, and games, that require physical skill and stamina.
  • noun The principles or system of training and practice for such activities.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The art or practice of athletic games or exercises; the system of rules or principles employed for physical training, as in running, rowing, boxing, gymnastics, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The art of training by athletic exercises; the games and sports of athletes.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Physical activities such as sports and games requiring stamina, fitness and skill.
  • noun A group of sporting activities which includes track and field, road running, cross country running and racewalking.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a contest between athletes
  • noun an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition
  • noun participation in sports events as an extracurricular activity

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From athlete +‎ -ics.

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