palestra

or pa·laes·tra

[ puh-les-truh ]

/ pəˈlɛs trə /

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noun, plural pa·les·tras, pa·les·trae

[puh-les-tree]. /pəˈlɛs tri/. Greek Antiquity.

a public place for training or exercise in wrestling or athletics.

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Origin of palestra

1375–1425; late Middle English palestre<Latin palaestra a wrestling school, place of exercise <Greek palaístra, equivalent to palais-, variant stem of palaíein to wrestle + -tra feminine noun suffix of place

Words nearby palestra

Palestine Liberation Organization, Palestinian, Palestinian Administered Territories, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian National Authority, palestra, Palestrina, paletot, palette, palette knife, pale western cutworm

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use palestra in a sentence

In counseling and rehabilitating their clients, La Palestra staff advocate a more integrative understanding of how to heal.
The Pain Is Not the Problem: How to Fix America’s Health-Care Crisis|Elizabeth Bradley and Lauren Taylor, Elizabeth Bradley, Lauren Taylor|November 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
PTL (Italian, n.)—the Italian translation for gym (palestra), tanning (tintarella), and laundry (lavanderia).
‘Jersey Shore’ Guide to Italian|Jaimie Etkin|August 4, 2011|DAILY BEAST
For many things there be, which we must conceit and apprehend, as though we had had to do with an antagonist at the palestra.
Meditations|Marcus Aurelius
This wasnt a lovers bower; it was only a palestra, or an observatory.
Nothing But the Truth|Frederic S. Isham

The Spartan maidens were required to exercise in the palestra, almost naked, in the presence of men and strangers.
The Trial of Jesus from a Lawyer's Standpoint, Vol. II (of II)|Walter M. Chandler
But when we leave the child "free as a man" in the palestra of his own intelligence, his type changes entirely.
Spontaneous Activity in Education|Maria Montessori

British Dictionary definitions for palestra

palestra

/ (pəˈlɛstrə, -ˈliː-) /

noun plural -tras or -trae (-triː)

the usual US spelling of palaestra

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