Word.ws English Dictionary

body-builder

body-builder noun: something that is beneficial to the body. Also the alternative form of bodybuilder.

Noun

body-builder (plural body-builders)

  1. Something that is beneficial to the body.
    • Do not imagine I am not in sympathy with the game. I am, most heartily, with this and most out-of-door sports. I am only combating a prevailing belief that they are beneficial body-builders.1886 April 6, Mary E. Allen, “Gymnastics for Women”, in Boston Evening Transcript, volume LIX, number 18,082, Boston, Mass., page 6, column 3
    • It is not a drug; it is a pre-digested food, and is absorbed at once. Strength, plumpness and digestive tone follows its use immediately. It is a body-builder, pleasant to the taste, and soon enables you to digest any food.1893 September 30, The Pre-Digested Food Co., ““Would He Were Fatter.””, in The Boston Daily Globe, volume XLIV, number 92, Boston, Mass., page 8, column 4
  2. One who builds vehicle bodies.
    • WANTED, a good BODY-BUILDER and WHEEL-WRIGHT.1867 January 14, “Situations Vacant and Wanted”, in The Age, number 3808, Melbourne, Vic., page 1, column 5
    • He was a body-builder by trade, and was apprenticed to Mr. Hornsby, at Grantham, and was making his way to Bury to try and get work at Mr. Boby’s; […]1868 February 4, “County Petty Session, Bury, Jan. 29”, in The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald, number 4467, Bury, Suffolk, page 6, column 6

Also used as

body-builder is also the alternative form of bodybuilder.

Examples of body-builder in a sentence

  • The term, ‘body-builder,’ largely employed by the best instructors, well describes its main purpose.”1894 September 6, “Women’s Classes: In the Gymnasium at the Young Women’s Department, W. C. A.”, in The Dayton Evening Herald, volume XIV...
  • Angier’s Petroleum Emulsion / It is a body-builder and a disease-destroyer.1894 October 18, “A Food=Medicine”, in Biddeford Daily Journal, volume XI, number 244, Biddeford, Me., page [4], column 2:
  • Sleep is the great physician—the body-builder, the nerve-bracer, the brain-clearer; […]1895 May 3, “The Pilgrim Spring Bed”, in The Boston Daily Globe, volume XLVII, number 123, Boston, Mass., page 6, column 8:
  • Sandow Recommends / The Whitely Exerciser as the best body-builder and health preserver.1895 December 19, “Timely Suggestions for Christmas”, in Manitoba Weekly Free Press, volume XXIII, number 52 (whole 1306), Winnipeg, Man....

Forms of body-builder

pluralbody-builders

Questions about body-builder

What does body-builder mean?
Body-builder means something that is beneficial to the body.
How do you use body-builder in a sentence?
The term, ‘body-builder,’ largely employed by the best instructors, well describes its main purpose.”
What part of speech is body-builder?
Body-builder is a noun.
What is the plural of body-builder?
The plural of body-builder is body-builders.

Words near body-builder in the dictionary

  1. body wraps
  2. body-blow
  3. body-blows
  4. body-build
  5. body-builded
  6. body-builder
  7. body-builders
  8. body-building
  9. body-builds
  10. body-built
  11. body-centered

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: body-builder (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “body-builder.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/body-builder. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.