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ATHLETIC
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Vigorously active
Example:
gymnastic exercises
Synonyms:
acrobatic; athletic; gymnastic
Classified under:
Similar:
active (characterized by energetic activity)
Derivation:
athletics (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Having a sturdy and well proportioned body
Example:
an athletic build
Classified under:
Similar:
mesomorphic; muscular (having a robust muscular body-build characterized by predominance of structures (bone and muscle and connective tissue) developed from the embryonic mesodermal layer)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Relating to or befitting athletics or athletes
Example:
athletic facilities
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
athletics (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)
Derivation:
athlete (a person trained to compete in sports)
Context examples:
The Ibizan Hound is an agile, deer-like, athletic hound that has a long, arched neck, long wedge-shaped head, and very large, triangular ears which stand up when the dog is alert.
(Ibizan Hound, NCI Thesaurus)
Bodybuilders and athletes often use anabolic steroids to build muscles and improve athletic performance.
(Anabolic Steroids, NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse)
The Pointer, also known as the English Pointer, has a well-muscled, athletic body and a short, sleek coat that comes in primarily white, but may be liver, lemon, black or orange; solid, patched or speckled.
(English Pointer, NCI Thesaurus)
“He was the only friend I made during the two years I was at college. I was never a very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my rooms and working out my own little methods of thought, so that I never mixed much with the men of my year. Bar fencing and boxing I had few athletic tastes, and then my line of study was quite distinct from that of the other fellows, so that we had no points of contact at all. Trevor was the only man I knew, and that only through the accident of his bull terrier freezing on to my ankle one morning as I went down to chapel.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
If he is an elderly man he is not this active cyclist who sprints away from that young lady’s athletic pursuit.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
His form was of the same strong and stalwart contour as ever: his port was still erect, his hair was still raven black; nor were his features altered or sunk: not in one year's space, by any sorrow, could his athletic strength be quelled or his vigorous prime blighted.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
I may add that I walked out to the athletic grounds this morning, saw that tenacious black clay is used in the jumping-pit and carried away a specimen of it, together with some of the fine tan or sawdust which is strewn over it to prevent the athlete from slipping.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
His shape, now divested of cloak, I perceived harmonised in squareness with his physiognomy: I suppose it was a good figure in the athletic sense of the term—broad chested and thin flanked, though neither tall nor graceful.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
