Paralympics
Americanplural noun
plural noun
Usage
What are the Paralympics? The Paralympics, formally called the Paralympic Games, are an international athletic competition featuring multiple sporting events between athletes with a range of bodily differences and disabilities. The event is modeled after the Olympic Games, featuring the world’s top athletes in their sports, with the top three finishers in each event being awarded medals: gold for first place, silver for second place, and bronze for third place. Like the Olympics, there are Winter and Summer versions of the Paralympics, and they are usually held after the corresponding Olympic event in the same city. The Winter Paralympics feature winter sports, including skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey, and many others. The Summer Paralympics feature traditionally warm weather and indoor sports, like track and field, swimming, and wheelchair basketball, among many others. Eligibility for and competition in the Paralympics is based on categories that involve bodily differences and different types of disabilities, including those related to muscle power and movement, range of movement, limb differences, visual impairment, and intellectual disabilities. Athletes who compete in the Paralympics can be called Paralympians.
Etymology
Origin of Paralympics
C20: parallel + Olympics
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.
“With the Olympics and Paralympics Games coming to our region in two years, the World Cup service has been a good chance to prepare for moving a lot of fans at once,” Metro said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 17, 2026
The Paralympics, which open on Aug. 15, 2028 and close on Aug. 27, needs volunteers from August to September.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2026
The government has commissioned UK Sport to conduct an "initial strategic assessment" into a potential bid for the north of England to host the Olympics and Paralympics in the 2040s.
From BBC • May 16, 2026
Following his injury he took up handcycling and won two golds in the Paralympics in London in 2012 before doing the same in Rio de Janeiro four years later.
From BBC • May 2, 2026
Tickets for the 2028 Paralympics, which will be the first in L.A.’s history, will go on sale in 2027.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
