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athletic type

athletic type

1 3.1
A person with a strong, muscular body and broad shoulders
  • noun
translation icon : tipo atlético
  • At the gym, she always admired the athletic type who seemed to dominate the weightlifting area.

Examples

  • Many people find that they are attracted to the athletic type for their physical strength.

  • In the semifinals, I had to play the Aspen Meadows pro (and tournament organizer), a tall, rangy athletic type named Lefty Brinkman.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Jason is the athletic type.

  • I mean, girls go for the athletic type, don't they?

  • Although I'm an athletic type, I have many overweight/obese family members.

    Blog text (2)
  • It's been my experience, the athletic type like Higgins... ...might go for the caveman approach, like this.

  • In American society, we speak of an executive or athletic type, and this recalls the cultural stereotypes.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Say... isn't that tommy bannister, the big athletic type?

  • Jason is clearly an athletic type with his muscular build and strong frame.

Synonyms

mesomorph
vsathletic type
1 9.9

A person who has a naturally muscular, athletic body

is a general everyday description rather than a technical physical term
muscleman
vsathletic type
1 4.5

A man with large strong muscles from exercise

is about natural robust bone structure rather than built muscles from training

How Muscular

bodybuilder
21 3.0
athletic type
1 3.1
toned
2.9
slim
60 1.0

Surface Forms

athletic type singular

Morphology

athletic + type

The meaning is directly derivable from 'athletic' (physically strong/fit) + 'type' (a kind or class of person), yielding 'a kind of person who is athletic.' This is a straightforward adjective + noun compositional pattern common across languages and follows regular English semantics, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would understand it.

Etymology

Athletic type comes from a simple image: a person clearly built for sport. The word athletic means fit and strong and type means a kind of person, so the phrase describes someone 'muscular and sturdy', which is why it means a person with a large, strong build.