sport

[spawrt, spohrt]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sport ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

a particular form of this, especially in the out of doors.

sports, (used with a singular verb) such athletic activities collectively: Sports is important in my life.

diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.

jest; fun; mirth; pleasantry: What he said in sport was taken seriously.

mockery; ridicule; derision: They made sport of him.

an object of derision; laughingstock.

something treated lightly or tossed about like a plaything.

something or someone subject to the whims or vicissitudes of fate, circumstances, etc.

a sportsman.

Informal. a person who behaves in a sportsmanlike, fair, or admirable manner; an accommodating person: He was a sport and took his defeat well.

Informal. a person who is interested in sports as an occasion for gambling; gambler.

Informal. a flashy person; one who wears showy clothes, affects smart manners, pursues pleasurable pastimes, or the like; a bon vivant.

Biology. an organism or part that shows an unusual or singular deviation from the normal or parent type; mutation.

Obsolete. amorous dalliance.

adjective Also sports.

of, relating to, or used in sports or a particular sport:sport fishing.

suitable for outdoor or informal wear: sport clothes.

verb (used without object)

to amuse oneself with some pleasant pastime or recreation.

to play, frolic, or gambol, as a child or an animal.

to engage in some open-air or athletic pastime or sport.

to trifle or treat lightly: to sport with another's emotions.

to mock, scoff, or tease: to sport at suburban life.

Botany. to mutate.

verb (used with object)

to pass (time) in amusement or sport.

to spend or squander lightly or recklessly (often followed by away).

Informal. to wear, display, carry, etc., especially with ostentation; show off: to sport a new mink coat.

Archaic. to amuse (especially oneself).

Idioms

sport one's oak. oak(def 5).

Origin of sport

1350–1400; Middle English; aphetic variant of disport

Related formssport·ful, adjectivesport·ful·ly, adverbsport·ful·ness, nounsport·less, adjectiveout·sport, verb (used with object)un·sport·ed, adjectiveun·sport·ful, adjective

Synonyms for sport

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sport ON THESAURUS.COM

1. game. 4. amusement, fun, entertainment. See play. 19. romp, caper. 21. toy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sported

don, exhibit, model

Examples from the Web for sported

Contemporary Examples of sported

Last year in San Diego, they sported bloody pants and angry signs.
Anti-Cutters Slam New CDC Recommendations on Circumcision
Nina Strochlic
December 3, 2014
You must now wear the same haircut & clothes you sported in junior high…forever.
#FixTheInternet: The Hashtag That Beat Back Kim Kardashian’s Butt
Emily Shire
November 14, 2014
My prom date, Red, sported a wiry mustache and drove a black-and-gold Camaro.
Let Us Now Praise Famous Rednecks and Their Unjustly Unsung Kin
Allison Glock
August 23, 2014
Last year, Watts, who was nominated for Best Actress for her role in The Impossible, sported a custom silver Armani gown.
Celebrity Stylists Dish About Dressing for the Oscars
Erin Cunningham
February 27, 2014
Gone was the wounded look he sported during the weekend of the Super Bowl.
Christie Finally Finds a Crowd That Doesn’t Care About Bridgegate
Olivia Nuzzi
February 21, 2014

Historical Examples of sported

And chief of these Sir John Hunter sported a splendid barouche.
Tales And Novels, Volume 5 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
His clothes were flashy, and he "sported" several large diamonds.
Frank Merriwell's Bravery
Burt L. Standish
Nobody who sported a silver watch could belong to the "first circles."
Prudy Keeping House
Sophie May
We sported the oak now, and before long he began to recover.
The Way of All Flesh
Samuel Butler
Only one room, and that generally the center of disturbance, "sported the oak."
Stanford Stories
Charles K. Field

British Dictionary definitions for sported

sport

noun

an individual or group activity pursued for exercise or pleasure, often involving the testing of physical capabilities and taking the form of a competitive game such as football, tennis, etc

such activities considered collectively

any particular pastime indulged in for pleasure

the pleasure derived from a pastime, esp hunting, shooting, or fishingwe had good sport today

playful or good-humoured jokingto say a thing in sport

derisive mockery or the object of such mockeryto make sport of someone

someone or something that is controlled by external influencesthe sport of fate

informal (sometimes qualified by good, bad, etc) a person who reacts cheerfully in the face of adversity, esp a good loser

informal a person noted for being scrupulously fair and abiding by the rules of a game

informal a person who leads a merry existence, esp a gamblerhe's a bit of a sport

Australian and NZ informal a form of address used esp between males

biology

an animal or plant that differs conspicuously in one or more aspects from other organisms of the same species, usually because of a mutation
an anomalous characteristic of such an organism

verb

(tr) informal to wear or display in an ostentatious or proud mannershe was sporting a new hat

(intr) to skip about or frolic happily

to amuse (oneself), esp in outdoor physical recreation

(intr often foll by with) to dally or trifle (with)

(tr often foll by away) rare to squander (time or money)sporting one's life away

(intr often foll by with) archaic to make fun (of)

(intr) biology to produce or undergo a mutation

Word Origin for sport

C15 sporten, variant of disporten to disport

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

Word Origin and History for sported

sport

c.1400, "to take pleasure, to amuse oneself," from Anglo-French disport, Old French desport "pastime, recreation, pleasure," from desporter "to divert, amuse, please, play" (see disport). Sense of "to amuse oneself by active exercise in open air or taking part in some game" is from late 15c. Meaning "to wear" is from 1778. Related: Sported; sporting.

sport

mid-15c., "pleasant pastime," from sport (v.). Meaning "game involving physical exercise" first recorded 1520s. Original sense preserved in phrases such as in sport "in jest" (mid-15c.). Sense of "stylish man" is from 1861, American English, probably because they lived by gambling and betting on races. Meaning "good fellow" is attested from 1881 (e.g. be a sport, 1913). Sport as a familiar form of address to a man is from 1935, Australian English. The sport of kings was originally (1660s) war-making.