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athletic game

athletic game

2.3
A sport or contest that involves physical activity and skill
  • noun
translation icon : juego atlético
  • The annual athletic games bring together athletes from different schools to compete in sports like track and field.

Examples

  • Only one of the fathers of the boys I grew up with took an active, participatory interest in his son's life by regularly coming to our athletic games, and for his interest, a Latinist among us gave the poor guy the name Omnipresent.

    Academic text (1997)
  • The military athletic games that began in 1922 continued, and interscholastic and intercollegiate competitions were initiated.

    Academic text (1994)
  • An example of such a problem is typically associated with the Friday night college pep rally for planned weekend athletic games, where athletes involved achieve full sympathetic syndrome that continues until game time, when they are already exhausted before playing.

    Academic text (1990)
  • In his starched gait, I saw evidence that he had never learned to dance or to play athletic games: exercises that train the mind and body to anticipate and collaborate with sudden shifts and variations in movement.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Gongora's placement of the sprint between the wrestling match and the long run, then, functions as a counterexample to the collectivism not only in athletic games that involve or lead to physical contact between two or more men, but also in sexual play that necessitates physical contact between lovers.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Believing this allows parents to go without sleep and change diapers in the early years, to give up the leisurely weekends of their pre-child existence in exchange for weekends spent watching youth athletic games and cleaning the house, and to give up relative tranquility for teenage years of rebellion and challenge.

    Academic text (2002)
  • The school organized various athletic games to promote teamwork and physical fitness among students.

  • She participated in several athletic games during the summer camp, including running and swimming events.

Synonyms

game
vsathletic game
1.0

An activity with rules that people play for fun or competition

is limited to those involving bodily exercise and active play rather than any pastime
sport
vsathletic game
1.0

A physical activity like football or tennis played for fun and competition

is a single play event focused on bodily exercise rather than the whole activity
ball game
vsathletic game
58 1.0

A game played with a ball, like baseball or football

is broader covering active matches that may not use a round object
ballgame
vsathletic game
23 2.0

A game played with a ball, like baseball or soccer

is less specific including active matches that do not need that object
athletic competition
vsathletic game
3 2.7

A contest where athletes compete in sports such as running or jumping

is aimed at active play and bodily exercise rather than formal direct matches
athletic contest
vsathletic game
1 2.5

A competition where people or teams compete in sports

is mainly about active play and bodily exercise not formal team matchups

How Competitive

championship
617 2.5
match
517 1.4
athletic game
2.3
to play
1.0

Surface Forms

athletic game singular

Morphology

athletic + game

The meaning 'a game that involves physical exercise or athletic competition' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'athletic' (relating to sports or physical fitness) with 'game' (a contest or match). This straightforward adjective+noun composition follows common cross-linguistic patterns and would be immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

Athletic game comes from joining athletic (from the word 'athlete', a person who competes) and game (a contest or play). So it literally means 'a game of physical contest', which is why we use it for sports events that need strength and skill.