stadium

noun

sta·​di·​um ˈstā-dē-əm 

plural stadiums or stadia ˈstā-dē-ə 

1

: a large usually roofless building with tiers of seats for spectators at sports events

2

a

: a tiered structure with seats for spectators surrounding an ancient Greek running track

b

: a course for footraces in ancient Greece

3

a

: any of various ancient Greek units of length ranging in value from 607 to 738 feet (about 185 to 225 meters)

b

: an ancient Roman unit of length equal to 607 feet (185 meters)

4

[New Latin, from Latin] : a stage in a life history

especially : one between successive molts of an insect

Synonyms

• bowl
• circus
• coliseum
• colosseum

Examples of stadium in a Sentence

the football game will be held at the new stadium, which seats 100,000 people

Recent Examples on the Web

In the late 1940s, the city considered constructing a new civic stadium for baseball and football games in what had been Belvidere Hollow. —Sarah Biegelsen, Kansas City Star, 17 Apr. 2024

The 2028 Summer Olympics, in Los Angeles, may feature the ferrying of athletes through the air from the village to their stadiums. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024

The tour's second show, for the only the second time in the city's stadium concert history, includes another night at the Milwaukee Brewers' ballpark Saturday. —Journal Sentinel, 13 Apr. 2024

Minor League Baseball’s Real Estate: The fight over a new stadium for the Eugene Emeralds highlights a wider challenge for cheaper alternatives to big-league live sports. —Rory Smith, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2024

But the stadium wasn’t nearly full and UM wanted to make this year’s more recruit-oriented so that some of the top high school players in the nation could tour campus, see the athletic facilities and walk next door to the game. —Susan Miller Degnan, Miami Herald, 12 Apr. 2024

After the team and stadium filed their lawsuit, the city put the project up for bid, which resulted in Fisher still winning the contract. —Shawn Raymundo, The Arizona Republic, 11 Apr. 2024

Aside from Saka’s opener and Leandro Trossard’s equalizer to make it 2-2, one of the loudest moments of the night came early in the second half when Kane was shown a yellow card for catching Gabriel with his arm, with many fans inside the stadium waving imaginary red cards towards the pitch. —Matias Grez, CNN, 10 Apr. 2024

Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna stepped to the podium in May 1997 to announce plans to build a stadium in downtown Sacramento that could lure a Major League baseball team to the city. —Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee, 5 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Latin, from Greek stadion

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3a

Kids Definition

stadium

noun

sta·​di·​um ˈstād-ē-əm 

plural stadia

-ē-ə

or stadiums

1

: a course for footraces in ancient Greece with rows of seats for spectators

2

plural usually stadiums : a large usually roofless building with rows of seats for spectators at modern sports events

Etymology

Middle English stadium "a course for races in ancient Greece, a large structure for sports events," from Latin stadium (same meaning), from Greek stadion "a course for footraces, a unit of measurement"

Word Origin

A stadion in ancient Greece was a unit of measurement equal to about 180 meters. One of the most important events in the ancient Olympic Games was a footrace exactly one stadion long. The course on which the race was run, including the raised seats from which spectators watched, was also known as a stadion. This word was later borrowed into Latin as stadium. In time, it also came to be used to refer to larger structures in which different kinds of athletic contests were held. That is how the English word stadium is usually used.