gym
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gym
First recorded in 1870–75; by shortening
Explanation
A gym is a building or room that's meant for playing indoor sports or exercising. You might go to the gym to pump iron, or you might go to the gym to see who else is pumping iron. The word gym is a shortened form of gymnasium, originally a Latin word meaning "school for gymnastics," from the Greek gymnasion, "public place where exercises are practiced." The preferred way to dress at a gym these days is in shorts or sweatpants, but back in Ancient Greece, men commonly exercised naked — hence the root gymnazein, "to train naked."
Vocabulary lists containing gym
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:
Shortly after the protests ended, the BJP posted a reel set in a gym, external.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Inside the local university’s gym, the Harlem Globetrotters had come up short.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
“Josh,” a gym rat and “protein maximizer,” said a bar needed more than 15 grams of protein to make it into his daily “stack.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Every exercise machine in the gym had a slot to connect your iPod directly to a personalized sound system.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
And with his enemy staring down at him from atop the jungle gym.
From "Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody" by Patrick Ness
But many older and unwell residents -- in a country with the world's second-oldest population -- are taking shelter in school gyms and municipal offices.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
With two gyms and two sports fields, the school would be capable of holding basketball or soccer tournaments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
We can work without offices, shop without stores, exercise without gyms and communicate without looking anyone in the eye.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
"Lt Fisher competed for the Great Britian Age Group team at the European Championships back in 2021, after finding triathlon when lockdown closed gyms and indoor sports venues," a spokesperson for the governing body said.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
“You’re limping,” June whispered to Ivy as they made their way up the sidewalk toward the gyms main doors.
From "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Herring Blake
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.
