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• long jump
  long jump

  noun

  a jump for distance from a running start.
• long-jump
  long-jump

  verb (used without object)

  to execute a long jump.

long jump

¹ American  

noun

Track and Field.

• long jumps
  plural

1. a jump for distance from a running start.

2. a field event featuring competition in the long jump.

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long-jump ² American  

[lawng-juhmp, long-] / ˈlɔŋˌdʒʌmp, ˈlɒŋ- /

verb (used without object)

1. Track and Field. to execute a long jump.

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long jump British  

noun

1. Former Austral, US, and Canadian equivalent: broad jump.  an athletic contest in which competitors try to cover the farthest distance possible with a running jump from a fixed board or mark

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Usage

What is the long jump? The long jump is a track-and-field competition in which athletes attempt to complete the longest forward jump with a running start and a single leap. The long jump is sometimes also known as the broad jump. An attempt in this event (the jump itself) is also called a long jump. A competitor in the long jump is called a long jumper. Standard long jumps take place on a track with a running lane, a jumping area or takeoff board, and a sand pit to land in. The distance of the jump is measured from the edge of the takeoff board to the landing spot. The two main long jump techniques are the tuck (in which the long jumper pulls their knees upward and then extends them at the last second) and the hitch kick (in which the long jumper continues their running motion after they jump in the air and then brings their feet together and extends them in front of them). The long jump is a track-and-field event in the summer Olympic Games (the Summer Games) and it is also part of the modern decathlon. The long jump should not be confused with the high jump, which is a track-and-field (and decathlon) event in which athletes attempt to complete the highest jump over a crossbar. Like the long jump, the triple jump also begins with a running start, but (as the name implies) involves three jumping motions instead of the single leap used in the long jump. Example: I’m training for the long jump and the high jump with my track-and-field team.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• long jumping
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• long jumps
  plural

Etymology

Origin of long jump

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

long jump long-jump

He’s nearing under 14 seconds in the hurdles, gone 6-10 in the high jump with a bad ankle and is nearing 25 feet in the long jump.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026

Benson competed in the 100, 200, 400, 800, 1,600, long jump, shotput … and earned his award — a baton.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026

"It's just not quite there for Kat at the moment," Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford said on BBC TV.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

First came a big leap of 6.37m in the long jump, then another season's best, this time in the javelin, of 52.85m that far exceeded those around her.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

On the Presidential Fitness Tests she beat me at chin-ups and the long jump and I killed her on push-ups, sit-ups, and the fifty-yard dash.

From "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by emily m. danforth

It was an instinctive sporting gesture that has gone down in Olympic folklore, but, for German long-jump champion Luz Long, it would have dark consequences.

From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2024

Joyner’s sister, heptathlon and long-jump great Jackie Joyner-Kersee, discussed the implications of people falling out of touch — and said that’s why she always picks up the phone.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 17, 2023

Thirty miles to the east, across Barataria Bay, South Plaquemines High School in Buras seemed from the air to be unscathed by Ida, except for sand from the long-jump pit sprayed across the running track.

From New York Times ● Sep. 3, 2021

He was a long-jump specialist for years, and his biggest major success was an indoor 60-meter win at European champions.

From Fox News ● Aug. 1, 2021

Standing long-jump with weights, 14 feet 5½ inches, G. W. Hamilton, October 3, 1879; without weights, 10 feet 10½ inches, M. H.

From Golden Days for Boys and Girls Volume VIII, No 25: May 21, 1887 by James Elverson