dojo
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dojo
1940–45; < Japanese dōjō Buddhist seminary, drill hall < MChin transliteration of Sanskrit bodhi-maṇḍa literally, seat of wisdom (equivalent to Chinese dàochǎng )
Explanation
A dojo is a place where people practice judo, karate, or another Japanese martial art. In Japanese, dōjō means "place of the Way," and the earliest dojos were areas within Buddhist temples where immersive training occurred. This included the martial art of kendo, but also meditation practice. Today Zen Buddhists are more likely to refer to a meditation hall as a zen-do. In Japan, training for many physical practices (like weightlifting and wrestling) happens in a dojo, as well as for martial arts like aikido and jujitsu.
Vocabulary lists containing dojo
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:
And the dojo where she trained three times a week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
Blanck said that, right after the fire, a friend and fellow martial arts instructor near his native Pensacola, Fla., offered to let him teach in his dojo if he needed to move back home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
Like so many of his students, Blanck and his daughter, who manages the dojo, lost their home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
And for his family, that means, in part, driving from his new home in Calabasas to Eden’s favorite place: the dojo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
But right away, Samira explained she’d been studying karate at a different dojo for the past two years, so she really did know what to do.
From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee
His wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, is a Garfield grad and one of Lee’s first dojos, Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, was founded in Seattle and is still operational.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2023
Speaking from his house on Long Island, only a couple of dojos from where he grew up, Ralph Macchio, who played Daniel, is sharing his theory of why the film is still so loved.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2022
Even successful dojos such as Azhakh’s, which prior to the pandemic had close to 1,000 students, have had their enrollment dwindle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2022
To defeat Kreese, Johnny and Daniel call a truce and combine dojos.
From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2022
Soon they fanned out across several floors and limbered up inside spartan dojos infused with a fragrance emanating from the pinewood walls.
From New York Times ● Jul. 22, 2021
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.
