Word.ws English Dictionary

featherweight

/ˈfɛðɚˌweɪt/

featherweight noun: a weight class in many combat sports; e.g. in professional boxing of a maximum of 126 pounds or 57.2 kilograms.

Noun

featherweight (plural featherweights)

  1. A weight class in many combat sports; e.g. in professional boxing of a maximum of 126 pounds or 57.2 kilograms.
    • Safety and fairness in female sport was one of the most prominent topics at this summer’s Olympic Games, where boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting took gold in the women’s welterweight and featherweight categories respectively.2024 November 4, Jamie Gardner, “Mandatory genetic testing in sport ‘not justified, ethical or viable’, say academics”, in The Independent, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2025
  2. A sportsman who fights in this division.
    • Watson specializes in adiposeness; none of his chorus beauties may be considered featherweights.1923 November 14, Evening Independent, Massillon, Ohio, 5/3
  3. The lightest weight that may be carried by a racehorse.

Forms of featherweight

pluralfeatherweights

Plural of featherweight: featherweights

Origin of featherweight

From feather + weight.

Questions about featherweight

What does featherweight mean?
Featherweight means a weight class in many combat sports; e.g. in professional boxing of a maximum of 126 pounds or 57.2 kilograms.
What part of speech is featherweight?
Featherweight is a noun.
How do you pronounce featherweight?
Featherweight is pronounced /ˈfɛðɚˌweɪt/ (US).
What is the plural of featherweight?
The plural of featherweight is featherweights.

Words near featherweight in the dictionary

  1. feathertail
  2. feathertail glider
  3. feathertail gliders
  4. feathertails
  5. featherweed
  6. featherweight
  7. featherweights
  8. featherwing
  9. featherwings
  10. featherwise
  11. featherwood

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: featherweight (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-featherweight.wav.

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