sauna
Americannoun
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saunas
plural
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a bath that uses dry heat to induce perspiration, and in which steam is produced by pouring water on heated stones.
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a bathhouse or room, usually of wood, equipped for such a bath.
verb (used without object)
noun
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an invigorating bath originating in Finland in which the bather is subjected to hot steam, usually followed by a cold plunge or by being lightly beaten with birch twigs
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the place in which such a bath is taken
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sauna
Borrowed into English from Finnish around 1880–85
Explanation
A sauna is a small therapeutic hot room. Some people use a sauna at the gym or pool, where they sit and relax, enjoying the cleansing heat. If there’s a separate steam room, then the sauna provides dry heat. In many Scandinavian countries, saunas are very common — in Finland, it's not unusual to have a sauna in or attached to your house. People who enjoy saunas find the steam, usually created by pouring water onto hot rocks, to be very relaxing and to have health benefits as well. The word sauna is Finnish, used to refer to both the structure of the room and the steam bath itself.
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.
See Examples For:
Researchers in Finland have discovered that spending just 30 minutes in a sauna, with a brief cold shower halfway through, causes white blood cells to surge into the bloodstream.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
The new findings suggest that sauna bathing may produce a comparable short-term response, although this does not mean the two activities provide identical immune benefits.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
Overall, the sauna session produced little change in average cytokine levels in the bloodstream.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
Voda also offers one of the banya’s most distinctive traditional treatments: venik, in which bundles of leafy branches gently stimulate the body in the sauna.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
Often I needed the sauna to relax, because I was giving my brain a real workout.
From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins
The facility will offer infrared saunas, steam rooms, hot and cold contrast therapies, compression and percussion treatments, and private treatment rooms.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
Daniel Kavanagh’s Oregon company builds and installs custom saunas and cold plunges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
On the sidelines of some are saunas and bars where players can mingle between matches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
And it has a spacious coed floor — called the “Main Hall” — with a full-service restaurant and the spectrum of saunas, including a Himalayan salt room, yellow clay room and cold room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Some gyms and saunas still maintain "no tattoo zones" on the grounds that certain tattoos "are too intimidating and may offend other guests".
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
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