Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for featherweight. Search instead for Heavier+Weight.
Synonyms

featherweight

American  
[feth-er-wayt] / ˈfɛð ərˌweɪt /

noun

  1. a boxer or other contestant intermediate in weight between a bantamweight and a lightweight, especially a professional boxer weighing up to 126 pounds (57 kilograms).

  2. an insignificant person or thing.

    He thinks he's a major composer, but he's just a featherweight.


adjective

  1. belonging to the class of featherweights, especially in boxing.

  2. extremely light in weight.

    a featherweight quilt.

  3. unimportant; trifling; slight.

featherweight British  
/ ˈfɛðəˌweɪt /

noun

    1. something very light or of little importance

    2. ( as modifier )

      featherweight considerations

    1. a professional boxer weighing 118–126 pounds (53.5–57 kg)

    2. an amateur boxer weighing 54–57 kg (119–126 pounds)

    3. ( as modifier )

      the featherweight challenger

  1. a wrestler in a similar weight category (usually 126–139 pounds (57–63 kg))

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of featherweight

First recorded in 1805–15; feather + weight


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Elsewhere it was announced Australia's Alexander Volkanovski will defend his featherweight title against Russia's Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on 24 October.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

Rapp challenged for the WBC women's featherweight championship in June, losing to Tiara Brown in Orlando, which left her with an 8-1-1 record.

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026

Topuria won the UFC featherweight championship by knocking out Alexander Volkanovski in February 2024.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

Take Katz’s T.50: It combines a race-car-like V-12 engine with a featherweight body and can go from 0 to 60 mph in a tick under three seconds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026

What Cavendish was trying to do was measure gravity at this extremely featherweight level.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Just like flashcards, but way more fun

Don't take our word for it. Leave the boring studying behind and join VocabTrainer today. You'll learn even faster and never look back.

Take me to Vocabulary.com