Olympic Games

plural noun

1

: an ancient Panhellenic festival held every fourth year and made up of contests of sports, music, and literature with the victor's prize a crown of wild olive

2

: a modified revival of the ancient Olympic Games consisting of international athletic contests that are held at separate winter and summer gatherings at four year intervals

called also Olym*pics\ ə-​ˈlim-​piks , ō-​ \

Examples of Olympic Games in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The hockey tournament at Milan Cortina Olympic Games next month will be littered with Sharks after Pavol Regenda was named Thursday to Slovakia’s roster. —Michael Nowels, Mercury News, 8 Jan. 2026

This February, as the 2026 Winter Olympic Games get underway in Milan, Italy, Aboian and Veselukhin will be hard at work with their coaches at the Newington Ice Arena. —Patrice Hutton, Hartford Courant, 6 Jan. 2026

Thanks to its history of hosting two Winter Olympic Games and its positioning within the Adirondack High Peaks, it’s packed with tourists year-round. —Lauren Breedlove, Travel + Leisure, 5 Jan. 2026

Once a pivotal railway stop, later the site of world-stage events, like the 1996 Olympic Games, and most recently, a filming epicenter, Conyers has blossomed into a buzzing destination, drawing visitors from across the globe. —Nicole Letts, Southern Living, 3 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1586, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for Olympic Games

• aims
• blames
• claims
• dames
• fames
• flames
• frames
• hames
• kames
• lames
• names
• shames

Kids Definition

Olympic Games

plural noun

1

: an ancient Greek festival held every fourth year and made up of contests in sports, music, and literature

2

: a series of international athletic contests held in a different country during the summer and the winter once every four years