sprint
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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a short race at full speed.
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a burst of speed at any point during a long race, as near the finish line.
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a brief spell of great activity.
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a short work cycle of fixed length during which specific goals, tasks, etc., need to be completed by a team: often used in agile development.
noun
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athletics a short race run at top speed, such as the 100 metres
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a fast finishing speed at the end of a longer race, as in running or cycling, etc
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any quick run
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sprintsimple
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sprintssimple
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have sprintedperfect
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has sprintedperfect
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am sprintingprogressive
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are sprintingprogressive
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is sprintingprogressive
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have been sprintingperfect progressive
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has been sprintingperfect progressive
Past
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sprintedsimple
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had sprintedperfect
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was sprintingprogressive
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were sprintingprogressive
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had been sprintingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sprint
First recorded in 1560–70; perhaps continuing Old English sprintan (unrecorded; compare gesprintan “to emit”); cognate with Old Norse spretta, Old High German sprinzan “to jump up”
Explanation
When you run really fast, you sprint. You and your sister might sprint to the bus stop, racing to see who can get there first. In the sport of track and field, a sprint is a short race that's run at top speed the whole way. Two professional cyclists also sprint when they race on bikes that start out side-by-side. If you notice a swarm of angry wasps heading your direction, you can sprint indoors, hoping you move faster than they do. Sprint has a Scandinavian root, possibly the Old Norse word spretta, "to jump up."
Vocabulary lists containing sprint
"Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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Vocabulary from the Poem “Touchscreen” by Marshall Davis Jones
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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:
Persuading people who have made up their minds is not easy, Kim said, as they often struggle with rescuers or sprint away "as if running a 100-metre race".
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
The startup has said it has a single goal: a “straight-shot” research sprint to what he dubbed “safe superintelligence”—industry speak for AI that can do whatever humans can do, without threatening humanity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Since then, the company he co-founded, now named CoreWeave, has been in a sprint to build a new AI-native cloud.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
So while the sprint to replace Platner will be short, it promises to be plenty intense.
From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2026
All four guards snapped to attention at my words and took off at a full sprint toward my house, yelling commands into their communicators as they took my story hook, line, and sinker.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
The kid known for his electric speed ranks only ninth in total sprints on his own team and his average speed has been below his teammate Aymeric Laporte’s—even though Laporte is a central defender.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
When taking playing time into account, they've actually run the least and made the fewest sprints of the four sides remaining.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
It’s tempting to portray competition in the quantum space as a mad dash, akin to the high-stakes sprints to commercialize cloud compute and artificial intelligence.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
The number of sprints depended on position, however - centre-backs and central midfielders fired on all cylinders eight times per match on average, while forwards did so 12 times and full-backs 14.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
But instead of drills and sprints, we sit on our butts, make weird sounds — Ohmmmmmmmm Ohmmmmmmmm and meditate.
From "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander
A couple walking along the beach sprinted out of the way as the small plane dropped down, Griffin said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
The Springboks had the luxury of bringing on Damian Willemse from the bench, but it was another replacement who pounced next as scrum-half Jantjies sprinted over in his first Test for three years.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Mads Pedersen sprinted clear from a breakaway to win the fourth stage of the Tour de France as defending champion Tadej Pogacar lost the yellow jersey and slipped to fourth.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
One asylum seeker sprinted into the courthouse, hours after her early morning hearing appointment in early June, her flip flops barely holding together as she frantically ran up and down the hallway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
My thoughts sprinted back to the comfort I’d felt at the Operation Save Fig bike-a-thon.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
One of the most haunting shots is Odysseus sprinting out of Hades chased by an army of the dead who regret following him into battle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
On a group text right after his final, sprinting rebound, one defendant wrote in all caps, “NO WAY.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
The drama is a welcome respite from Paul’s loud and horrible voice, and I once again find myself sprinting toward this new center of gravity.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
Two wickets down, next to no runs on the board, Root striding down the steps and stretching at the boundary's edge before sprinting halfway to the crease.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
Before Palmer could react, Beans was on the bird, scooping it up and sprinting to the center of the field.
From "Wringer" by Jerry Spinelli
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.
