Standard Lemma guide

sportsmanlike

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈspɔːts.mən.laɪk/
  • General-American: /ˈspɔɹts.mən.laɪk/

1

adj

Meaning 1

Demonstrating good sportsmanship, behaving in an honorable and appropriate manner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

exhibiting or calling for sportsmanship or fair play

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a clean fight
  • a sporting solution of the disagreement
  • sportsmanlike conduct

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: clean, sporting, sporty

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh1 Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des- Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *-téh2 Proto-Indo-European *pr̥téh2 Proto-Italic *portā Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Proto-Italic *portāō Latin portāre Old French porter Anglo-Norman desporterbor. Middle English disporten Middle English sporten English sport English -s English sports Proto-Indo-European *mon- Proto-Germanic *mann- Proto-West Germanic *mann Old English mann Middle English man Middle English -man English -man English sportsman Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-West Germanic *-līk Old English -līċ Middle English -like English -like English sportsmanlike From sportsman + -like.

Across languages

Translations

12 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: спортсменски (sportsmenski) — good sportsmanship
  • Catalan: esportiu — good sportsmanship
  • Dutch: sportief — good sportsmanship
  • Finnish: urheilijamainen — good sportsmanship
  • German: sportlich — good sportsmanship
  • Hungarian: sportszerű — good sportsmanship
  • Indonesian: sportif — good sportsmanship
  • Italian: sportivamente — good sportsmanship
  • Polish: sportowy — good sportsmanship
  • Polish: uczciwy — good sportsmanship
  • Swedish: sportsmannamässig — good sportsmanship
  • Welsh: sbortsmanaidd — good sportsmanship