trainer
Americannoun
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trainers
plural
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a person or thing that trains.
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a staff member on an athletic team who gives first aid and therapy to injured players.
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a person who trains athletes; coach.
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a person who trains racehorses or other animals for contests, shows, or performances.
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an airplane or a simulated aircraft used in training aircrew members, especially pilots.
noun
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a person who trains athletes in a sport
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a piece of equipment employed in training, such as a simulated aircraft cockpit
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horse racing a person who schools racehorses and prepares them for racing
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(plural) an informal name for training shoes
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of trainer
Explanation
A trainer is someone who teaches or coaches someone, like the trainer at the gym who promises that she'll have you ready to run a marathon in four months. Some trainers can teach you how to do sit ups, while others can instruct you to program a computer or be an effective leader. Dog trainers teach dogs to follow commands — and they teach dog owners to give commands effectively. The noun trainer comes from the verb train, "to discipline or teach," from an earlier sense, "to manipulate to bring a desired form," the way a gardener trains a rose to grow up a trellis.
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:
"He was very skinny and there was a significant physical disparity between him and the other athletes in his age group," his long-time personal trainer Rodrigo Goncalves told BBC Sport.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Outside linebacker Kyle Kennard exited practice with a trainer after limping off the field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
So if my trainer has horses that need to be ridden for their own exercise, they’ll put me on one of those.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Moments after Golden Tempo’s victory in this year’s Derby, trainer Cherie DeVaux was asked if she would run in the Preakness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
I told Mama Tataba I’d grown up knowing how to cook, but not to be a circus trainer.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
His family say he only had three passions in life - Chelsea, TV wrestling, and trainers.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
It appeared to be a lower-body injury, and trainers worked on him afterward.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
One of my closest friends, his dad was a pastor so being around him, my trainers and my stepmom helped me grow in my faith.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Their trainers cited the short turnaround between the two events; very few horses these days compete in races two weeks apart.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
When the fiery pain in their muscles became unbearable, they clung to the side of the cliff and rested, thinking of what their trainers in Britain had taught them: Never look down.
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
