Tennis Meaning
/ˈtɛnɪs/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets.
nounA match in this sport.
Sentence Examples
He's Argentinean and he gives tennis lessons.
Do you not play tennis?
Which is better exercise—swimming or tennis?
CEFR Practice Quiz
She won by serving the ball over the net with a racket in a professional ____ competition.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
They spent the whole afternoon playing ____ at the local court and enjoyed the warm and sunny summer weather today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English tennys, teneys, tenis, from Old French tenez (second-person plural imperative of tenir (“to hold”)).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"“Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke[…]whom the papers are making such a fuss about.”"
— 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:
"One of Naomi Osaka's sponsors has been forced to apologise after depicting the Japanese tennis star, who is half-Haitian, with pale skin in an advertisement."
— 2019 January 23, Justin McCurry, “Naomi Osaka sponsor apologises for ‘whitewashing’ tennis star in ad”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Dec 2024:
"We go about to parties in the daytime as usual, teas and tennises[…]"
— 1918, Violet Hunt, The Last Ditch, page 95:
"tennis-balls"
— 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
"His easy bow, his good stories, his style of dancing and playing tennis, […] were familiar to all London."
— 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She won by serving the ball over the net with a racket in a professional ____ competition.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
They spent the whole afternoon playing ____ at the local court and enjoyed the warm and sunny summer weather today.