Nurmi

American

[nur-mee, noor-mi] / ˈnɜr mi, ˈnʊər mɪ /

noun

Paavo Johannes 1897–1973, Finnish athlete.

Nurmi British

/ ˈnɜːmɪ, ˈnurmi /

noun

Paavo (ˈpɑːvɔ), known as The Flying Finn. 1897–1973, Finnish runner, winner of the 1500, 5000, and 10 000 metres' races at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris

"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.

Also in the cast: Maila Nurmi, the original Vampira, whose spooky-glam TV persona on “The Vampira Show” paved the way for Peterson’s Elvira.

From Salon • Oct. 27, 2025

That nudged them just ahead of Finland, who had 14 golds among their 37 medals, with Nurmi and Ritola doing much of the heavy lifting.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2024

Ritola added gold medals in the 3,000m steeplechase, 3,000m team event and the team cross country, also taking silver in the individual cross country and 5,000m, finishing 0.2 seconds behind Nurmi in the latter.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2024

Nurmi believes that the situation with marine data may be similar to the one in air quality research years ago.

From Science Daily • Mar. 12, 2024

Mrs. Nurmi was out in the yard by an old wood stove which she still used for boiling the vegetable dyes for her weaving, or peelings and scraps for the hens.

From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford

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