trapeze
Americannoun
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trapezes
plural
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an apparatus, used in gymnastics and acrobatics, consisting of a short horizontal bar attached to the ends of two suspended ropes.
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(on a small sailboat) a device by which a crew member can be suspended almost completely outboard while hiking.
noun
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a free-swinging bar attached to two ropes, used by circus acrobats, etc
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a sling like a bosun's chair at one end of a line attached to the masthead of a light racing sailing boat, used in sitting out
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of trapeze
1860–65; < French, special use of trapèze trapezium
Explanation
If you've been to the circus, you've probably seen a trapeze, a swing-like bar on ropes hanging high in the air. Trapeze performers do daring tricks while swinging far above the ground. Acrobats and trapeze artists are trained to dangle and flip and leap from trapeze to trapeze as they swing dozens of feet above the ground. The trapeze was invented in 1859 by a French performer named Jules Leotard. The word trapeze comes from the Latin word trapezium, a geometrical four-sided figure that is mimicked by the shape made by the ceiling, ropes, and bar in a trapeze.
Vocabulary lists containing trapeze
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:
However, much of the Caballero family’s performance lore begins with Isabel’s son, 82-year-old Rubén: an apparatus connoisseur well-versed in the high wire, trapeze and hand balancing.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
The agents booked them a trapeze class for early April.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
The circus is still in town, but the trapeze artists, tightrope walkers and other eye-catching acts are no more.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2025
Navigating this period as a journalist and sole parent feels like being a trapeze artist without a net—each day teetering on the edge of madness.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2024
You have two personality traits: no friends here, no trapeze.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Out of both necessity and the desire to preserve what they call the "Africanness" of their shows, Sencirk uses locally found materials to make its equipment, such as trapezes, safety mats and juggling balls.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2021
In this event, two-person teams, like the one described above, perform near-acrobatic feats on literal trapezes to zoom around a racecourse, almost like wind-powered NASCAR.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2021
Over the course of the three-hour show, BTS’ members were lifted on trapezes over the crowd.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2019
Its challenge now is to manage growth while holding on to its mom-and-pop, let’s-put-on-a-show ethos, with treadmills and trapezes.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 28, 2017
She went on to regale them with stories about circus life—hanging from trapezes, leaping through flaming hoops, getting shot from cannons—until gradually Sticky cheered up, and the matter of parents was dropped.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
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.
