fitness
Americannoun
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capability of the body of distributing inhaled oxygen to muscle tissue during increased physical effort.
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Also called Darwinian fitness. Biology.
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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.
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the ability of a population to maintain or increase its numbers in succeeding generations.
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noun
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the state of being fit
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biology
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the degree of adaptation of an organism to its environment, determined by its genetic constitution
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the ability of an organism to produce viable offspring capable of surviving to the next generation
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fitness
Explanation
Fitness is good physical condition. If you're a fitness nut and you're constantly working out, everybody else at the gym might be eyeing your sculpted muscles with envy and marveling at your stamina and strength. Fitness can also refer to your being fit, or qualified, for something. If you show up in ragged jeans and a dirty t-shirt to interview for a job in the clean room of a microchip factory, your interviewer might question your fitness for the position. For a ship, fitness is a measure of whether it's seaworthy. In biology, an organism's fitness for a particular environment is its ability to survive and reproduce in those conditions.
Vocabulary lists containing fitness
Word Generation Science - Life Science
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Physical Education - Introductory
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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.
Pesticide and herbicide use is commonplace and these chemicals affect the fitness of bees, causing them to die off.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
So it makes sense that now, as a wellness writer, I became intrigued by Body Dada, a barre fitness studio with locations in Highland Park and Silver Lake.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Despite moments of brilliance, Sterling struggled for form and fitness as the team went on to finish 12th in the 2022-23 season.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Hyrox, a strenuous fitness competition that involves 1-kilometer runs and multiple strength challenges such as hauling weights, had 55,000 participants in China this past year, up from 7,300 a year earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Perhaps there was something to this physical fitness curriculum the military recommended.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
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.
