TENNIS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tennis mean? 

• TENNIS (noun)
  The noun TENNIS has 1 sense:

1. a game played with rackets by two or four players who hit a ball back and forth over a net that divides the court

  Familiarity information: TENNIS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TENNIS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A game played with rackets by two or four players who hit a ball back and forth over a net that divides the court

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

lawn tennis; tennis

Hypernyms ("tennis" is a kind of...):

court game (an athletic game played on a court)

Meronyms (parts of "tennis"):

footfault (a fault that occurs when the server in tennis fails to keep both feet behind the baseline)

return (a tennis stroke that sends the ball back to the other player)

set point ((tennis) the final point needed to win a set in tennis)

advantage ((tennis) first point scored after deuce)

service break (a tennis game won on the opponent's service)

Domain member category:

drop one's serve (lose a game in which one is serving)

double fault ((tennis) two successive faults in serving resulting in the loss of the point)

ace (serve an ace against (someone))

game ((tennis) a division of play during which one player serves)

match point ((tennis) the final point needed to win a match (especially in tennis))

exchange; rally ((sports) an unbroken sequence of several successive strokes)

fault ((sports) a serve that is illegal (e.g., that lands outside the prescribed area))

serve; service ((sports) a stroke that puts the ball in play)

forehand drive ((sports) hard straight return made on the forehand side (as in tennis or badminton or squash))

forehand; forehand shot; forehand stroke ((sports) a return made with the palm of the hand facing the direction of the stroke (as in tennis or badminton or squash))

drive ((sports) a hard straight return (as in tennis or squash))

cut; undercut ((sports) a stroke that puts reverse spin on the ball)

break; break of serve ((tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tennis"):

professional tennis (playing tennis for money)

singles (tennis played with one person on each side)

doubles (tennis played with two players on each side)

court tennis; real tennis; royal tennis (an ancient form of tennis played in a four-walled court)

 Context examples 

“But I have taken to tennis now instead. A painful incident happened the last time that I was out, and it sickened me of it.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When you play the piano or hit a tennis ball you are activating the cerebellum.

(Cerebellar Disorders, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

You were wearing, I may remark, the same pair of ribbed tennis shoes which are at the present moment upon your feet.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It occurs in tennis players as well as housewives, artisans, and violinists.

(Lateral Epicondylitis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Tendinitis of the elbow is a sports injury, often from playing tennis or golf.

(Elbow Injuries and Disorders, NIH)

We have such walks and drives, and rides, and rowing, and tennis, and fishing together; and I love him more than ever.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

As we drove up to the porticoed front door, I observed in front of it, beside the tennis lawn, the black tool-house and the pedestalled sundial with which we had such strange associations.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Your sports may range from tennis to rock climbing, golf to hiking.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I have rubber-soled tennis shoes.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I ejaculated an unrestrained "Huh!" and he must have heard me for he went on nervously: What I called up about was a pair of shoes I left there. I wonder if it'd be too much trouble to have the butler send them on. You see they're tennis shoes and I'm sort of helpless without them. My address is care of B. F.—

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)