martial arts
martial arts is the plural of martial art.
Meaning of martial art
Noun
martial art (plural martial arts)
- Any of several fighting styles which contain systematized methods of training for combat, both armed and unarmed; often practiced as a sport, e.g. boxing, karate, judo, silat, wrestling, or Muay Thai.
- Military skills, proficiency in military strategy, prowess in warfare.
- […] of all the modes by which the advantage of his country may be secured, the martial arts and valour are those by which a Swiss the most hopes to promote it.1832, Richard Chenevix, An Essay Upon National Character: 4. On patriotism, p. 481
- Synonyms:
- combat sport
Noun
martial arts pl (plural only)
- Collectively, the traditional East Asian fighting styles, and their derivatives
Origin of martial arts
From martial art + -s.
Words formed from martial arts
- martial arts fighter
- martial arts film
- martial arts master
Questions about martial arts
- What does martial arts mean?
- Martial arts means collectively, the traditional East Asian fighting styles, and their derivatives.
- What is martial arts the plural of?
- Martial arts is the plural of martial art.
- What part of speech is martial arts?
- Martial arts is a noun.
Words near martial arts in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: martial arts (page history and authors); martial art (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: “martial arts.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/martial_arts. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.