somersault
Americannoun
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somersaults
plural
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an acrobatic movement, either forward or backward, in which the body rolls end over end, making a complete revolution.
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such a movement performed in the air as part of a dive, tumbling routine, etc.
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a complete overturn or reversal, as of opinion.
verb (used without object)
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somersaults,
present (3rd person singular)
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somersaulted,
past participle, past
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somersaulting
present participle
noun
-
-
a forward roll in which the head is placed on the ground and the trunk and legs are turned over it
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a similar roll in a backward direction
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an acrobatic feat in which either of these rolls are performed in midair, as in diving or gymnastics
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a complete reversal of opinion, policy, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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somersaultsimple
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somersaultssimple
-
have somersaultedperfect
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has somersaultedperfect
-
am somersaultingprogressive
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are somersaultingprogressive
-
is somersaultingprogressive
-
have been somersaultingperfect progressive
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has been somersaultingperfect progressive
Past
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somersaultedsimple
-
had somersaultedperfect
-
was somersaultingprogressive
-
were somersaultingprogressive
-
had been somersaultingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of somersault
1520–30; < Middle French sombresaut, alteration of sobresault; compare Old Provençal sobre over (< Latin super ), saut a leap (< Latin saltus )
Explanation
A somersault is a gymnastic move in which you lower your head almost to the floor and roll forward so your feet flip over your head. Fancier somersaults are done in the air, rather than on the ground. There are many types of somersaults—forward, backward, and sideways, among other variations. In gymnastics, a somersault on the floor is more often called a roll. The word somersault, which works as a verb too, comes from the now-obsolete French sombresault, from the Latin roots supra, "over," and saut, "a jump."
Vocabulary lists containing somersault
Vocabulary of the Summer Olympics
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Summer of the Monkeys
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Unit 4, Week 5
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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.
See Examples For:
To perform one somersault after another, the robot must slow down in exactly the right way so that it begins each new flip under the proper conditions.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
"She used to somersault off the window sills," said mother Leanne, while father Chris admitted they "still did not know anything about gymnastics".
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
With her hands steady at the controls, her voice calm as she spoke to mission control, Collins piloted the craft through a slow, graceful somersault.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2025
Brady Hummel was so wide open he could have done a somersault.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2025
It was a back somersault off the high diving board.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
The robot was agile enough to complete 10 consecutive somersaults in 11 seconds, even while wind disturbances tried to knock it away from its intended path.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
From shoulder shimmies and frat flicks to somersaults and knee slides, the Flemings and Schifferles left it all on the dance floor to prove the prowess of their family name.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Adopting the moniker of Prince, the fleet-footed fighter entertained the masses with his leopard-print shorts and somersaults into the boxing ring.
From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2026
After a Red Bull aerobatic helicopter improbably flipped over its rotor and pulled itself out of a dive at the last second, a group of children near the shore started imitating the maneuver in somersaults.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2025
There were dizzy bees and bow-tied fruit flies turning somersaults and humming in the air.
From "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros
Polly compares the enormous explosion to being in a movie, "a yellow swirl of light… then being flipped into the air and somersaulted around".
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2024
He somersaulted over the snow at New York’s Whiteface Mountain, near a spot where his coach was watching.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 24, 2023
LeBron James somersaulted onto his feet and pounded his chest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2022
Pulisic somersaulted off both hands and landed hard.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 9, 2021
Not the silvery catches that swam and somersaulted in the wooden basins that lined the market at the foot of the Mountain of Ten Thousand Steps.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
Cam, who works in his father’s garage and is called “Faid” for “financial aid,” she meets cute, crashing a bicycle into his truck and somersaulting into the bed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
Human soldiers have easily foiled AI systems by doing what is "out of the ordinary", like somersaulting or putting cardboard boxes over their heads, external, he adds.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
Watching her gracefully somersaulting through the water — her silvery tail towed, at one point, by Sebastian’s tiny pincer — you can’t help feeling something not present enough on screens these days: joy.
From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2023
Humans’ love of spinning around in circles, especially during childhood, is evidenced by the enduring popularity of playground merry-go-rounds, revolving fun park rides and the irresistible draw of somersaulting down a hill.
From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2023
Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
