Word.ws English Dictionary

colosseum

/ˌkɒ.ləˈsiː.əm/

colosseum is the alternative spelling of coliseum.

Meaning of coliseum

Noun

coliseum (plural coliseums or (rare) colisea)

  1. A large theatre, cinema, or stadium.
    • the London Coliseum
  2. A large, often circular building, for indoor sporting events, exhibitions, concerts, etc.; arena.
    • The state deplores the consumer approach in sport—and builds the colisea which encourage it.1956, Soviet Survey, pages 54–55

Proper noun capitalized: Colosseum

the Colosseum

  1. The largest stadium in the Roman empire, located near the center of Rome.
    • The Colosseum (known at the time as the Flavian Amphitheater) in Rome was the empire's greatest amphitheater. A marvel of Roman engineering, the Colosseum could hold up to 70,000 spectators.2002, Tracey Ann Schofield, Rome, page 39
    • The Colosseum’s elliptical shape is 617 feet long, 512 feet across, and 159 feet high.2007, Luciano Mangiafico, Italy's Most Wanted™: The Top 10 Book of Roman Ruins, Wonderful Wines, and Renaissance Rarities, page 36

Forms of colosseum

pluralcolosseums
alternative formcoliseum
alternative formcolossæum
plural (rare)colossea

Origin of colosseum

From Latin colossēum, from neuter of colosseus (“gigantic”), from Ancient Greek κολοσσιαῖος (kolossiaîos), from κολοσσός (kolossós, “giant statue”). By surface analysis, colossus + -eum.

From Late Latin, from Latin colossēus (“colossal”); a mediaeval term for the classical Latin Amphitheatrum Flavium; see also coliseum.

Questions about colosseum

What does colosseum mean?
Colosseum means the largest stadium in the Roman empire, located near the center of Rome.
What is colosseum the alternative spelling of?
Colosseum is the alternative spelling of coliseum.
What part of speech is colosseum?
Colosseum is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce colosseum?
Colosseum is pronounced /ˌkɒ.ləˈsiː.əm/.

Words near colosseum in the dictionary

  1. colossalness
  2. colossea
  3. colossean
  4. colossendeid
  5. colossendeids
  6. colosseum
  7. colosseums
  8. colossi
  9. Colossian
  10. Colossians
  11. colossus

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: colosseum (page history and authors); Colosseum (page history and authors); coliseum (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: en-us-colosseum.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Colosseum.wav.

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