disport
Americanverb (used with object)
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to divert or amuse (oneself ).
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to display (oneself ) in a sportive manner.
The picnickers disported themselves merrily on the beach.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
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(tr) to indulge (oneself) in pleasure
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(intr) to frolic or gambol
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disportsimple
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disportssimple
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have disportedperfect
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has disportedperfect
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am disportingprogressive
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are disportingprogressive
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is disportingprogressive
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have been disportingperfect progressive
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has been disportingperfect progressive
Past
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disportedsimple
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had disportedperfect
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was disportingprogressive
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were disportingprogressive
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had been disportingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disport
1275–1325; (v.) Middle English disporten, desporten < Anglo-French desporter, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + porter literally, to carry ( see port 5); (noun) Middle English < Anglo-French, derivative of the v.
Explanation
Visitors to an elementary school during recess may be surprised by the way the kids disport themselves. Disport means to play in a carefree way or to amuse yourself in a lighthearted fashion. To correctly pronounce disport, accent the second syllable: "dih-SPORT." It comes from the French word desporter, which means "to carry away" or "to entertain." Think of disport as what kids do when they have so much fun playing that they get carried away, forgetting all about school until the bell rings. You might disport yourself by frolicking at the beach with friends and enjoying lively conversation.
Vocabulary lists containing disport
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 11
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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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:
We don’t often wonder about the names of the places where we disport ourselves.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2022
Other than: may all would-be statesmen disport themselves with the casual larceny of a guy who knows if you don’t let the legal papers physically touch you, then they haven’t been served on you.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 9, 2019
While elsewhere in town, van loads of tourists are being carted around to view houses once inhabited by movie stars gone and long forgotten, at San Vicente Bungalows the live ones disport themselves.
From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2019
They can enjoy the hot dry weather that followed a spring of relentless rain and fog here and disport themselves in public with an apparent ease that seems singularly Italian.
From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2012
Now you girls all go out, and disport yourselves on the lawn, while I do my noble duty.
From The Dorrance Domain by Wells, Carolyn
The fastest man on the planet disports himself like a gentleman amateur.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 6, 2012
In the current picture he is wrecked on a cannibal island, and disports himself amidst the cannibal cancan.
From Time Magazine Archive
An inhabitant of the household disports in the portable bathtub while his mate fries a fish over the gas jet.
From Time Magazine Archive
They include a Long Island vampire expert, a California professor of frog psychology and a Virginia doctor who disports himself in a clown's nose and goofy hats and refuses to charge his patients.
From Time Magazine Archive
In these stories the historical personages, which with artistic discretion are kept in the background, constitute after all only a decorative element; in the foreground happy youthfulness disports itself in its irresponsibility.
From The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Masterpieces of German Literature Vol. 19 by Various
"He certainly could be, and it would be a question of how far out he goes, how far he reaches, how disported he gets," Dean replied.
From Salon ● Nov. 6, 2023
In the business of turning steel, glass and concrete into places where Americans worked and disported themselves, he and his company were known for projects not only in New York but also across the country.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 7, 2016
Even as the Puritans were striving to build an austere theocracy in New England, they were defied by a character named Thomas Morton, whose Merry Mount colonists disported themselves in free-spirited revelry.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 2, 2014
And a smaller segment of those selfsame shiny fashion people disported itself, tipping Champagne flutes and hovering over a table of luscious cakes with the cold-eyed hunger of sharks around a diver’s cage.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2012
She liked him, and had found him more interesting than most of the young men in whose company she had disported herself.
From Abington Abbey A Novel by Marshall, Archibald
He demonstrated his ability to accurately transcribe a barely-legible original manuscript of Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984” by disporting his skills in paleography, the study of ancient and antiquated writing systems.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2022
He showed me works he was making: visions of exploding buildings and fantastical beasts disporting themselves in temples and gardens.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 2, 2019
Havana’s festive atmosphere has long befuddled visiting American politicians fearful they could be accused of disporting themselves inappropriately in a repressive environment.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 12, 2015
“Three long steep hills just west of the town were the mecca of the skiers, with several score disporting themselves there throughout the the afternoon,” a 1937 Somerset Daily American article said.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 27, 2014
When we reached the Shore, the Tide was low, & there were Children there disporting themselves with Chum.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
