workout
Americannoun
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a trial or practice session in athletics, as in running, boxing, or football.
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a structured regime of physical exercise.
She goes to the gym for a workout twice a week.
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any trial or practice session.
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an act or instance of working something out.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of workout
First recorded in 1890–95; noun use of verb phrase work out
Explanation
A workout is an exercise session. If you hope to join your school's track team, you'd better be prepared for regular workouts. If you do yoga, lift weights, or run with your dog, you can call each of these activities a workout. When it's a verb, workout becomes two separate words: work out. So you can either say "I work out three days a week" or "I usually do three workouts a week." When this noun first appeared around the turn of the 20th century, it referred specifically to a practice boxing match.
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:
“The center of social gravity has moved from the nightclub to the workout, the class and the calmer room.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
“And the workout — because the movements stay so small and because it’s low impact, it really is good and safe for everyone.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
ClassPass, the popular app for booking workout classes, added tourist attractions to the mix this week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
"I ran and ran and ended up completing my workout too."
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
In fact, about an hour after we moved in on the first day, we were back on the bus, riding to the gymnastics training hall for our first workout in Rio.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
The findings support once weekly brisk interval walking as a practical therapeutic option for adults with central obesity, especially those who have difficulty fitting several workouts into their schedules.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 2, 2026
"You can't stop the Earth from turning or the years from passing," Lula muses in his gravelly voice in one of the social media videos he shares showcasing his workouts.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
Contemporary Dance Company for six years, music is particularly integral to all the Body Dada workouts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
He said that his father's "spirit lives on in gym workouts around the world, continuing to help people fall in love with fitness".
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
From now until race day on the twenty-second there would be only light workouts, to keep in shape.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
