sauna
Americannoun
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saunas
plural
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a bath that uses dry heat to induce perspiration, and in which steam is produced by pouring water on heated stones.
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a bathhouse or room, usually of wood, equipped for such a bath.
verb (used without object)
noun
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an invigorating bath originating in Finland in which the bather is subjected to hot steam, usually followed by a cold plunge or by being lightly beaten with birch twigs
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the place in which such a bath is taken
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sauna
Borrowed into English from Finnish around 1880–85
Explanation
A sauna is a small therapeutic hot room. Some people use a sauna at the gym or pool, where they sit and relax, enjoying the cleansing heat. If there’s a separate steam room, then the sauna provides dry heat. In many Scandinavian countries, saunas are very common — in Finland, it's not unusual to have a sauna in or attached to your house. People who enjoy saunas find the steam, usually created by pouring water onto hot rocks, to be very relaxing and to have health benefits as well. The word sauna is Finnish, used to refer to both the structure of the room and the steam bath itself.
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:
Spanning 3,180 square feet, the home is akin to a resort-level wellness retreat, offering a large cedar hot tub, a cold plunge, and a dry sauna.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Rogan’s Instagram account reveals he’s made several upgrades to the mansion, including adding a cold plunge tub and a sauna.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
Like much of the show, the season’s details of middle age came from conversations Tropper heard around him during his years among Westchester’s ultrarich — many of them in the sauna or steam room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Regular sauna use has previously been linked to a range of health benefits.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
July, its breathless days and sauna nights, hard to sleep.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
And it has a spacious coed floor — called the “Main Hall” — with a full-service restaurant and the spectrum of saunas, including a Himalayan salt room, yellow clay room and cold room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
He and his wife have installed German-made saunas inside their residences, South Korea’s spy agency said in 2015.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
There are more than 600 public saunas across the UK, with many now opening on beaches, overlooking lakes and in other picturesque rural settings.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2026
The streets are dotted with saunas, Pilates studios and even a cross-country skiing fitness boutique.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
I walk a frozen Bothnian Gulf at Nallikari, an obscured lighthouse, a delinquent lifeguard stand, and makeshift saunas stand on white expanse like archaeology.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 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.
