pastime
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pastime
1480–90; earlier pas ( s ) e tyme, translation of Middle French passe-temps
Explanation
A pastime is any hobby or activity that you do to pass the time. Usually, people enjoy their pastimes. When baseball was more popular, it was called the "national pastime," because so many people enjoyed watching or playing it. Baseball is still a major pastime, as are many other sports. Other pastimes include listening to music, playing music, watching TV, playing video games, playing with your dog, and any kind of hobby. Whenever you're awake and not working, you're probably enjoying a pastime.
Vocabulary lists containing pastime
Baseball: A Lexicon
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Words for the World Series
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This Week in Words: November 11 - 17, 2017
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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.
Hockney's new passion was landscapes: the traditional pastime of the weekend amateur.
From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026
It also makes O’Donnell a competent foil—and a satisfying target for Trump’s favorite pastime, revenge.
From Slate • Jun. 11, 2026
A recent study by the Economist showed that 10% of Americans now rank soccer as their favorite sport, making it the third most popular behind football and basketball and narrowly edging out America’s pastime, baseball.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 9, 2026
In the El Nuevo Día story, which published in March, Díaz is quoted talking about cockfighting, saying it was a pastime he’d followed since he was a child.
From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2026
Not long after Desdemona took to her bed, I’d begun to notice, in the vague creepy way of a sister with a brother, a new, solitary pastime of Chapter Eleven’s.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
