Meaning & use
extracurricular activity
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
An organized activity outside the normal school curriculum, often for students.
Grammar: Countable; often used in the plural: extracurricular activities.
Patterns
- do an extracurricular activity
- take part in an extracurricular activity
Playing in the school band is a popular extracurricular activity.
She lists volunteering as her main extracurricular activity.
Colleges look at your extracurricular activities as well as your grades.
Word forms
| plural | extracurricular activities |
|---|
Common combinations
- do an extracurricular activity
- He does an extracurricular activity every afternoon.
- take part in an extracurricular activity
- Students are encouraged to take part in at least one extracurricular activity.
- list extracurricular activities
- On the application, list your extracurricular activities.
Synonyms and how they differ
- after-school activity
- Usually refers to activities right after school; extracurricular activity is broader and can include weekends or evenings.
- club
- A club is one type of extracurricular activity; extracurricular activity is a wider term.
Word family
- extracurricular adjective
- Outside the regular curriculum.
- curricular adjective
- Related to the official course of study.
Commonly confused: extracurricular activity or curriculum?
extracurricular activity vs curriculum
Curriculum is the set of subjects taught; extracurricular activity is something done outside that set.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'extracurricular activity' correctly?
Choose one answer.
An extracurricular activity is outside the regular curriculum, like a painting club. Option An is wrong because math class is part of the curriculum. Option C contradicts the meaning. Option D uses it as an adverb, which is incorrect.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “extracurricular activity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.