fitness
[fit-nis]
- health.
- capability of the body of distributing inhaled oxygen to muscle tissue during increased physical effort.
- Also called Darwinian fitness. Biology.
- the genetic contribution of an individual to the next generation's gene pool relative to the average for the population, usually measured by the number of offspring or close kin that survive to reproductive age.
- the ability of a population to maintain or increase its numbers in succeeding generations.
Show More
Origin of fitness
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
vigorstrengthhealthreadinesseligibilitycompatibilitypreparednesssuitabilityqualificationconsistencyadequacycompetencetrimrepairkilterfettleshaperobustnesspertinenceapplicabilityExamples from the Web for fitness
Contemporary Examples
The amenities include a fitness room, a sauna, a beauty parlor, and a karaoke setup.
“LCDR Peters is an outstanding Supply Corps officer…” says one one fitness report from 2004.
The NFL, for instance, has a fitness campaign designed to address childhood obesity.
Or Sensoria, a new athletic-wear company whose socks have GPS and whose shirts have a fitness tracker built into the bra.
When the doctors in his group get fitness band data, they have time to put some thought into what the information implies.
Historical Examples
It did not occur to him to question his fitness for the work.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
The young girl no longer listened to these reasons of the fitness of things.
The DreamEmile Zola
Only this very morning I read her a sermon upon 'Propriety, and the fitness of things.'
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
The place had an Homeric simplicity and beauty which touched his sense of fitness.
A Singer from the SeaAmelia Edith Huddleston Barr
Candidates must only be proposed for their fitness, and opposed on the ground of unfitness.
LawsPlato
fitness
- the state of being fit
- biology
- the degree of adaptation of an organism to its environment, determined by its genetic constitution
- the ability of an organism to produce viable offspring capable of surviving to the next generation
Show More
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
Word Origin and History for fitness
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
fitness
(fĭt′nĭs)- The state or condition of being physically sound and healthy, especially as the result of exercise and proper nutrition.
- A state of general mental and physical well-being.
- The state of being suitably adapted to an environment.
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.