Lycra

American

[lahy-kruh] / ˈlaɪ krə /

Trademark.

a brand of spandex.

Lycra British

/ ˈlaɪkrə /

noun

a type of synthetic elastic fabric and fibre used for tight-fitting garments, such as swimming costumes

"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

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.

Lycra is lightweight, breathable, and can expand and snap back indefinitely.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

But we pay a heavy price for comfort: Lycra, which is in almost everything we wear now, lives forever in landfills.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

Squeezed into tightfitting Lycra costumes, they have been wielding oversized pugil sticks, running around floating scaffolds and chasing only slightly less musclebound members of the public up walls, in front of a cheering crowd.

From New York Times • Mar. 29, 2024

Do your part by buying one of the brand’s super-soft beanies made from 99% cotton, 1% Lycra.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 1, 2023

She enjoyed the WWF Wrestling Mania shows, where Hulk Hogan and Mr. Perfect, whose necks were wider than their heads, wore spangled Lycra leggings and beat each other up brutally.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023