tennis

noun

ten·​nis ˈte-nəs 

often attributive

1

: an indoor or outdoor game that is played with rackets and a light elastic ball by two players or pairs of players on a level court (as of clay or grass) divided by a low net

2

: court tennis

Examples of tennis in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The brand recently also sponsored a dinner for the SMK tennis tournament in Abu Dhabi. —Tianwei Zhang, Footwear News, 16 Dec. 2025

Located near Moorland and Bluemound roads, Westmoor Country Club describes itself on its website as a private club that serves more than 500 member families, and offers a variety of amenities other than golf, including tennis, swimming and dining facilities. —Chris Ramirez, jsonline.com, 15 Dec. 2025

Seeing women’s tennis bring in big dollars made Ohanian confident that top-tier marketing would have the same outcome in other sports. —Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 12 Dec. 2025

In response, Watts emptied his garbage bag and sent a full supply of dirty tennis balls spilling and bouncing across the dayroom. —Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 12 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English tenetz, tenys, perhaps borrowed from Anglo-French tenez, 2nd person plural imperative of tenir "to hold" — more at tenant entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing tennis

• court tennis
• deck tennis
• lawn tennis
• paddle tennis
• platform tennis
• squash tennis
• table tennis
• tennis court
• tennis elbow
• tennis shoe

Rhymes for tennis

• menace

Kids Definition

tennis

noun

ten·​nis ˈten-əs 

: a game played with rackets and a light elastic ball by two players or two pairs of players on a level court divided by a low net