stadium

American  

[stey-dee-uhm] / ˈsteɪ di əm /

noun

• stadiums,
  plural
• stadia
  plural

1. a sports arena, usually oval or horseshoe-shaped, with tiers of seats for spectators.

2. an ancient Greek course for foot races, typically semicircular, with tiers of seats for spectators.

3. an ancient Greek and Roman unit of length, the Athenian unit being equal to about 607 feet (185 meters).

4. a stage in a process or in the life of an organism.

5. Entomology. stage.

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stadium British  

/ ˈsteɪdɪəm /

noun

1. a sports arena with tiered seats for spectators

2. (in ancient Greece) a course for races, usually located between two hills providing natural slopes for tiers of seats

3. an ancient Greek measure of length equivalent to about 607 feet or 184 metres

4. (in many arthropods) the interval between two consecutive moultings

5. obsolete a particular period or stage in the development of a disease

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• stadia
  plural
• stadiums
  plural

Etymology

Origin of stadium

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek stádion unit of distance, racecourse

Explanation

A stadium is a large outdoor venue for sports or concerts. If you were a Roman emperor, you might've watched a chariot race at a stadium, but these days you're more likely to go to a stadium to see a football game or your favorite band. The word stadium is the Latin form of the Greek stadion, which was a length of about 600 human feet. Running tracks at the earliest Greek Olympics were approximately one stadion in length, and Roman tracks of a similar size were surrounded by tiered seating — which led to the English meaning of stadium, a track or field in the middle of tiered seats.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stadium stadia stadiums

We could have run anywhere, but we did it in that stadium for a reason: This was the track where Jesse had once run.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Jelly Roll’s the Little Ass Shed Tour concluded last week in Colorado after two months of shows; he also co-headlined several stadium concerts with Post Malone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

“Whether they have a ticket to be in the stadium or they don’t, we want to create special moments for them that they can remember.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

Campari CPR -0.34%decrease; red down pointing triangle sees untapped opportunities for its popular Aperol brand: taking on beer, a stadium favorite, at concerts and sporting events.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

The CIA chose a dead-drop site on a railroad bridge over the Moskva River, away from the city center, near a sports stadium.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

"I work on sports stadia around the world," he told BBC Sport.

From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026

Clubs embarking on massive stadia rebuilds are reacting also to changing habits among fans, according to Gutierrez.

From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026

In Germany for the 2006 World Cup an estimated 350,000 watched games in stadia and at fan parks.

From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2026

The Grand Slams argue that revenue generated can be a misleading figure, as the costs of running a major tournament are huge and investment is required in warm-up tournaments, stadia and player facilities.

From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2026

From the difference in the apparent position of the North Star in Egypt and Greece, Aristotle even quoted an estimate that the distance around the earth was 400,000 stadia.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking

The biggest World Cup ever was also the most attended, but some of the tournament’s best parties came outside of stadiums.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

The couple spent their courtship sharing fun Covid-era activities, like stealing toilet paper, enjoying empty cinemas and stadiums, and taking selfies in front of dumpster fires, all to the tune of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story.”

From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026

The company said it hit record second-quarter concert attendance of 49 million fans, with international attendance at stadiums, arenas, and festivals all up more than 20%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

However, during the second quarter, stadium attendance fell, as World Cup games filled more stadiums through June and limited the times when artists could perform there.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

“Weird,” I say, stepping over an abandoned shoe, “because I didn’t think there were any giant bridges with sports stadiums in the background during the Holocaust.”

From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle

Related Words

• amphitheater
• field
• garden
• gymnasium