muscle memory

noun

: the ability to repeat a specific muscular movement with improved efficiency and accuracy that is acquired through practice and repetition

Hitting the golf ball requires strength, flexibility, coordination and muscle memory.

—Al Barkow

They practice their routines with mind-numbing repetitiveness, for hours and days, weeks and years, so that each spinning, twisting landing off the high bar becomes an act of muscle memory.

—E. M. Swift

Examples of muscle memory in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Unlike the Conservative Party, which has a history of getting rid of leaders such as Margaret Thatcher in 1990 and Boris Johnson in 2022, Labour doesn't have that muscle memory. —ABC News, 12 May 2026

For a club built around development, these are the uncomfortable reps that can eventually become muscle memory. —Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 May 2026

Glasner and Daichi Kamada were integral with their know-how in the first leg, but Shakhtar’s European muscle memory is significant. —Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 6 May 2026

The goal is to build muscle memory before a real emergency. —Spencer Wilson, CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for muscle memory

• emery