Meaning & use
a bodybuilder
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A person who trains with weights to make their muscles large and strong, often for competition or show.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a bodybuilder' or 'bodybuilders'.
Patterns
- a bodybuilder trains
- a bodybuilder competes
- become a bodybuilder
He started lifting weights at sixteen and became a bodybuilder.
A bodybuilder needs to eat a lot of protein and train almost every day.
She is a bodybuilder who has won several national competitions.
Word forms
| plural | bodybuilders |
|---|
Common combinations
- competitive bodybuilder
- He is a competitive bodybuilder who trains for shows.
- professional bodybuilder
- She turned professional bodybuilder after winning the title.
- train as a bodybuilder
- He trains as a bodybuilder six days a week.
- bodybuilder's diet
- A bodybuilder's diet is usually high in protein.
Synonyms and how they differ
- weightlifter
- A weightlifter competes in lifting heavy weights, while a bodybuilder focuses on muscle size and shape.
- muscleman
- Muscleman is informal and often used for a strong man, not necessarily someone who competes in bodybuilding.
Word family
- bodybuilding noun
- The activity or sport of training muscles with weights.
- bodybuild verb
- To train with weights to develop muscles (rare).
Commonly confused: a bodybuilder or weightlifter?
a bodybuilder vs weightlifter
A weightlifter tries to lift the heaviest possible weight; a bodybuilder aims for muscle size and appearance.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'a bodybuilder' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'A bodybuilder' describes a person, so 'who trains every morning' is the natural relative clause. The other options use prepositions that do not fit this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a bodybuilder”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.