Paralympics

plural noun

Para·​lym·​pics ˌper-ə-ˈlim-piks 

ˌpa-rə-

: a series of international contests for athletes with disabilities that are associated with and held following the summer and winter Olympic Games

called also Paralympic Games

Paralympian

ˌper-ə-ˈlim-pē-ən 

ˌpa-rə-

noun

Paralympic

ˌper-ə-ˈlim-pik 

ˌpa-rə-

adjective

Examples of Paralympics in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

As reported, last April Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 unveiled the Olympics and Paralympics torch via two simultaneous events at the Triennale Milano museum here and at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. —Martino Carrera, Footwear News, 15 July 2025

The 2026 Paralympics Winter Games will see athletes compete in six winter sports across three Italian regions in March 2026, and coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first Winter Paralympics in Sweden in 1976. —Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 7 Mar. 2025

His fashion is featured on runways, in retail stores and at the Olympics and Paralympics. —Diane J. Cho, People.com, 28 June 2025

Mullins, a bilateral amputee, is known for completing the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta and playing the mother to Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven on Stranger Things. —Shania Russell, EW.com, 23 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

para(plegic) + (O)lympics, later interpreted as para- entry 1 in sense "alongside of" + (O)lympics

First Known Use

1953, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Paralympics

• olympics