stamina
1 Americannoun
noun
noun
noun
Usage
What does stamina mean? Stamina is endurance—the strength or energy to keep going, even when tired or facing other unfavorable conditions. The word is most commonly used in the context of sports to refer to the ability to continue performing despite fatigue. Athletes train to improve their stamina. Stamina is also the plural form of the word stamen, which is the part of a flower that produces pollen. Interestingly, both senses of the word are based on the same Latin root. Example: A lot of players are fast and strong, but it’s the ones who have worked to increase their stamina who are most effective at the end of a long game.
Other Word Forms
- staminal adjective
Etymology
Origin of stamina
1535–45; < Latin, plural of stāmen thread ( stamen ); i.e., the life-threads spun by the Fates
Explanation
If you can run for a really long time, or carry a heavy box a really long way, you have stamina. Stamina is staying power or enduring strength. Stamina is not always related to physical strength and endurance. Solving a difficult puzzle or a complex problem requires your brain to work long and hard, something called mental stamina. If you have had a really tough year, but are doing generally fine, someone might say you have emotional stamina. It can also mean "perseverance." Do you have the stamina to learn this word?
Vocabulary lists containing stamina
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 1
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An Inspirational Back-to-School Word List
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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.
Gina: Unproven stamina and has looked to struggle over extended trips at the top level in recent starts.
From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026
Your upbringing taught you a lot about life, and you learned the value of hard work and patience and stamina and consistency by buying and selling homes and building a $6 million nest egg.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026
Her stamina impresses her manager, Greg, a gruff gay man who tells her about the gay club in town, where she meets Tina, the woman who teaches her acceptance through unconditional love.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026
Burton had previously apologized to Battle’s family in a public letter where he acknowledged that it took him a long time and stamina to admit his role in the robbery.
From Slate • Mar. 6, 2026
Her only child’s wedding—die culmination of all she had been, thought or done in this world— had dragged from her energy and stamina even die did not know she possessed.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
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.
