marathon
Syllables: mar·a·thon/ˈmæɹəθən/US/ˈmæɹəˌθɑn/
marathon noun: a 42.195-kilometre (26-mile-385-yard) road race.
Noun (1)
marathon (plural marathons)
Verb
marathon (third-person singular simple present marathons, present participle marathoning, simple past and past participle marathoned)
- To run a marathon.
- In less than two years, they and their family and friends have skydived, marathoned, tray-baked and dinner-danced their way to £130,000 for Duchenne research through their help4harry campaign.2015 August 1, Mary Braid, “‘I was cross that my child had to beg the prime minister for a drug’”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2022
- To watch or read a large number of instalments of (a film, book, TV series, etc.) in one sitting.
- We're going to marathon Star Trek next weekend.
Proper noun capitalized: Marathon
Marathon
- A town in Attica, Greece, the site of the victory in 490 BC of heavily outnumbered Athenians against Persians.
- A rural town in the Shire of Flinders, northern Queensland, Australia.
- A town in Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada.
- A city in the Florida Keys, Monroe County, Florida.
- A minor city in Buena Vista County, Iowa.
- A township in Lapeer County, Michigan.
- A town and village therein, in Cortland County, New York.
- An unincorporated community in Jackson Township, Clermont County, Ohio.
- A census-designated place in Brewster County, Texas.
- A town in Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Noun (2) capitalized: Marathon
Marathon (plural Marathons)
- Former name of Snickers (“chocolate bar brand”).
marathon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
marathon in Hindi
- road race
- मैराथन mairāthan
marathon in Tamil
- நெடுந்தொலை ஓட்டம், பேரோட்டம்
marathon in Urdu
- لمبی دوڑ
marathon in Bengali
- road race
- ম্যারাথন mêrathon
More languagesFewer languages
- marathon in Malayalam
- അതിദൂര ഓട്ടപ്പന്തയം
- marathon in Kannada
- ಸುದೀರ್ಘ ಓಟ, ಬಹುದೂರದ ಓಟದ ಪಂದ್ಯ, ಸಹಿಷ್ಣುತೆಯ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ, ಗೆಂಟೋಟ
- marathon in Gujarati
- મેરેથોન merethon
- marathon in Arabic
- مَارَاثُون mārāṯūn
- marathon in Thai
- มาราธอน maa-raa-tɔn
- marathon in Vietnamese
- ma-ra-tông
- marathon in Myanmar
- မာရသွန် mara.swan
Examples of marathon in a sentence
- There comes a point in a marathon when some people give up.
- The runner was in (a state of) absolute euphoria after winning his first marathon.
- The marathon runner in the lead is light years ahead of the one at the back.
Forms of marathon
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | marathons |
| plural | Marathons |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | marathons |
| present participle | marathoning |
| past participle | marathoned |
| past | marathoned |
Origin of marathon
From French marathon, coined in 1894 by linguist Michel Bréal for the first modern time Olympic Games after Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn), a town northeast of Athens. Phidippides the Greek ran the distance from Marathon to Athens to deliver a message regarding the Battle of Marathon. The modern sport of marathon running is based on a run approximately the same distance. The toponym itself comes from μάραθον (márathon, “fennel”) and refers to the prevalence of the plant in the area.
From Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn). Doublet of marathon.
Words formed from marathon
Questions about marathon
- What does marathon mean?
- Marathon means a 42.195-kilometre (26-mile-385-yard) road race.
- What is marathon in Hindi?
- Marathon in Hindi is मैराथन (mairāthan). See Marathon meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is marathon?
- Marathon can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce marathon?
- Marathon is pronounced /ˈmæɹəθən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of marathon?
- The plural of marathon is marathons.
Words near marathon in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: marathon (page history and authors); Marathon (page history and authors); marathon (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); marathon (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); marathon (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); marathon (Kannada Wiktionary) (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)-Vealhurl-marathon.wav.
Cite this entry: “marathon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/marathon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.