olympic

olympic — adjective

1. describing anything that belongs to, takes place at, or is part of the Olympics

1.adjectiveA2
Definition

describing anything that belongs to, takes place at, or is part of the Olympics — a worldwide sports competition held once every four years where athletes from many countries take part in events such as swimming, running, and gymnastics.

Example

Yumi broke the Olympic record for the 200-metre freestyle on Tuesday night.

collocation: Olympic record

The Olympic torch passed through six small towns before reaching the stadium.

collocation: Olympic torch

Common collocations
  • Olympic Games
  • Olympic medal
  • Olympic record
  • Olympic torch
  • Olympic athlete
  • Olympic gold
  • Olympic standards
  • Olympic committee

Grammar Patterns

Olympic + noun

Usage Note

Almost always used attributively before a noun (Olympic athlete, Olympic medal, Olympic stadium); rarely a predicate. Capitalised because it refers to a specific event, not a general type of competition.

Common Mistakes

She is olympic in swimming.
She is an Olympic swimmer.
'Olympic' modifies a noun; it does not describe a person's quality on its own.
The athletes won olympic gold.
The athletes won Olympic gold.
capitalise 'Olympic' as it refers to the named Games.

Word family

  • Olympics
    nounA2
  • Olympian
    nounC1
  • Olympian
    adjectiveC1
  • Olympiad
    nounC2

Common collocations

Nouns

  • Games
  • medal
  • record
  • torch
  • athlete
  • committee
  • stadium
  • champion

Phrases

  • Olympic Games
  • Olympic gold medal
  • Olympic torch relay
  • Olympic record holder

Etymology

GreekLatinEnglish

From the Greek place name Olympia, the ancient sanctuary in southern Greece where athletic festivals were held in honour of Zeus from the eighth century BCE. English picked up 'Olympic' through Latin 'Olympicus' in the late 1500s, first describing the ancient Greek games. After the modern Olympic Games were founded in Athens in 1896, the word came to refer mainly to that revived international competition.