Meaning & use
athletic achievement
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
a notable success in sports or physical activity, such as winning a race or breaking a record
Grammar: Countable: use 'an athletic achievement' for one success and 'athletic achievements' for several.
Patterns
- an athletic achievement
- athletic achievements in something
- achieve an athletic achievement
Winning the regional final was her greatest athletic achievement.
The school celebrates athletic achievements as well as academic ones.
His athletic achievement at the national trials earned him a scholarship.
noununcountable
the act or process of reaching a high standard in physical performance over time
Grammar: Used without 'a' or a plural when talking about the general idea of reaching this standard.
Patterns
- a sense of athletic achievement
- measure athletic achievement
- recognize athletic achievement
The coach emphasized that athletic achievement takes years of daily practice.
The program aims to promote athletic achievement among teenagers.
For many athletes, athletic achievement is more about personal improvement than medals.
Word forms
| plural | athletic achievements |
|---|
Common combinations
- a major athletic achievement
- Qualifying for the Olympics is a major athletic achievement.
- outstanding athletic achievement
- She received an award for outstanding athletic achievement.
- celebrate athletic achievement
- The ceremony was held to celebrate athletic achievement across the district.
- a record of athletic achievement
- The university has a long record of athletic achievement.
- recognize athletic achievement
- The committee recognizes athletic achievement with a special trophy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sporting success
- This sounds more like news reporting and often refers to winning rather than personal improvement.
- athletic feat
- This emphasizes a single impressive action, often one that seems difficult or surprising.
- accomplishment
- This is a general word and can refer to any area of life, not just sports.
Opposites
Word family
- athlete noun
- a person who is good at sports or who competes in them
- athletic adjective
- relating to sports or physically strong and fit
- athletics noun
- the sports of running, jumping, and throwing, or sports in general
- achieve verb
- to succeed in doing something after effort
- achiever noun
- a person who is successful, especially through hard work
Commonly confused: athletic achievement or athletic achievement vs. academic achievement?
athletic achievement vs athletic achievement vs. academic achievement
These are parallel phrases. Athletic achievement is about sports; academic achievement is about schoolwork and grades.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'athletic achievement' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option 1 is correct because a marathon is a sports event, so finishing it is an athletic achievement. Option 0 is about driving, which is not athletic. Option 2 is about business profits, not sports. Option 3 makes no sense because achievements are not eaten.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “athletic achievement”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.