Word.ws English Dictionary

calisthenics

Syllables: cal·is·then·ics/ˌkæ.lɪsˈθɛ.nɪks/

calisthenics noun: physical exercises with the participation of a multitude of muscles and often minimal equipment (thus, usually bodyweight exercises); strength training aspects and cardio aspects are both involved, and stamina is often a focus.

Noun

calisthenics sg or pl (plural calisthenics)

  1. (in plural, plural, singular) Physical exercises with the participation of a multitude of muscles and often minimal equipment (thus, usually bodyweight exercises); strength training aspects and cardio aspects are both involved, and stamina is often a focus.
    • Just before sacktime, the Captain stood beside his sleeping bag doing his daily calisthenics; stripped down to his flaming red long johns, […]1968, Seon Manley, Gogo Lewis, Polar Secrets: A Treasury of the Arctic and Antarctic, page 105
    • The husband-hunt had been a failure. Carlo had taken at least a dozen potential Misters Right on test runs of longer or shorter duration—perhaps a few lines of IM [instant messaging], perhaps a couple of promising dates, or sexual calisthenics.2005 December 7, Scott & Scott [pseudonym; Scott Pomfret; Scott Whittier], chapter 8, in Nothing Personal (Romentics: A Novel Approach to Gay Romance), [North Charleston, S.C.]: BookSurge, →ISBN...
  2. (plural, singular) A system of such exercises.

Forms of calisthenics

pluralcalisthenics
alternative formcallisthenics

Plural of calisthenics: calisthenics

Origin of calisthenics

From Ancient Greek κάλλος (kállos, “beauty”) + σθένος (sthénos, “strength”) + English -ics.

Words formed from calisthenics

Questions about calisthenics

What does calisthenics mean?
Calisthenics means physical exercises with the participation of a multitude of muscles and often minimal equipment (thus, usually bodyweight exercises); strength training aspects and cardio aspects are both involved, and stamina is often a focus.
What part of speech is calisthenics?
Calisthenics is a noun.
How do you pronounce calisthenics?
Calisthenics is pronounced /ˌkæ.lɪsˈθɛ.nɪks/ (UK).
What is the plural of calisthenics?
The plural of calisthenics is calisthenics.

Words near calisthenics in the dictionary

  1. Calista
  2. Calister
  3. calistheneum
  4. calisthenic
  5. calisthenical
  6. calisthenics
  7. Calistoga
  8. calithump
  9. calithumps
  10. Calitlitan
  11. calitoxin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: calisthenics (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-calisthenics.wav.

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