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🏃 Physical activity 🏃 To work out 📝 Practice task 🙄 Pointless action 🪖 Training activity 🧑‍⚖️ To perform duties 🗳️ To use rights 📝 To practice 🎓 Formal ceremony
exercise

exercise

155 7.5
An activity that only seems to do something but has no real result
  • noun
  • /ˈɛksərˌsaɪz/
translation icon : ejercicio
  • If nothing else, they provide an exercise in patience and in observation of detail.
  • intellectual exercise
  • a self-serving exercise
  • planning exercise

And this is a constantly disappointing exercise, but it doesn't stop them trying.

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Examples

  • This whole issue was an exercise of frustration.

  • It's never worked as an intellectual exercise except as a means to an end.

  • Our feeling was with this exercise in particular.

  • And then go through this exercise of how to relax the body.

  • Not always bad taste, but the exercise of taste without knowing the level above it.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • So that is a kind of an exercise in love and kindness.

  • So much of debate is an exercise in certainty.

  • So this is probably the whole point of the exercise in one nutshell.

  • - What's going on in here? - An exercise in futility.

    Cloud Atlas (2012)

  • This debate is merely an exercise in futility, as no one is willing to compromise.

Synonyms

activity
vsexercise
∞ 1.0

An action people do for a purpose or for fun

is treated mainly as an example and often viewed as pointless

Antonyms

meaningfulness
1 4.9

Something that has a clear purpose or value

Compounds

physical exercise
6 2.1

Planned activity that uses your muscles to keep you fit and healthy

aerobic exercise
5 2.4

Physical activity that raises the heart rate and improves heart and lung fitness

exercise bike
4 2.9

A machine like a bicycle that you ride indoors to keep fit

trust exercise
2 4.4

An activity where people learn to depend on each other

commencement exercise
  • Formal
1 5.6

A formal ceremony where students receive degrees or diplomas

leg exercise
1 2.0

An exercise that makes leg muscles stronger and firmer

graduation exercise
  • Formal
1 3.6

A ceremony where students get their diplomas

anaerobic exercise
1 3.9

Short periods of very hard activity that build muscle, like lifting weights

arm exercise
1 2.3

A movement that makes the arm muscles stronger, like lifting weights

back exercise
1 2.6

A move that makes the muscles in your back stronger

exercise device
1 2.7

Equipment that helps a person exercise, for example a bike or weights

isometric exercise
  • Specialized
1 4.3

Exercises where muscles push or hold against something without moving, for example a plank

neck exercise
1 3.4

A movement that makes the neck muscles stronger or more flexible

cardiopulmonary exercise
  • Specialized
4.9

Exercise that makes the heart and lungs stronger and helps blood and breathing work better

abdo exercise
  • Informal
3.6

An exercise that works the stomach muscles

exercise set
3.5

A number of times you repeat one movement without rest

five-finger exercise
7.4

A simple practice using all five fingers to improve their speed and control

gymnastic exercise
4.0

A movement in gymnastics that uses equipment to build strength and balance

isotonic exercise
  • Specialized
4.6

Exercise that makes muscles get shorter and longer while moving a weight or your body

stomach exercise
3.0

An exercise that makes the muscles around your belly stronger

How Representative

model
569 3.4
example
34 1.0
exercise
155 7.5
case
∞ 2.0

Surface Forms

exercise singular
exercises plural

Etymology

Exercise comes from the Latin word exercere, which means 'to keep busy' or 'to train'. A phrase like 'an exercise in futility' uses this idea to show something done only to keep people busy, with no real result.