a racket game played between two players or pairs of players who hit a ball to and fro over a net on a rectangular court of grass, asphalt, clay, etc
See also lawn tennis, real tennis, table tennis(as modifier): tennis court, tennis racket
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
ten•nis /ˈtɛnɪs/USA pronunciation
n. [uncountable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- Sporta game played on a rectangular court by players with rackets, in which a ball is driven back and forth over a low net.
ten•nis
(ten′is),USA pronunciation n.
- Sporta game played on a rectangular court by two players or two pairs of players equipped with rackets, in which a ball is driven back and forth over a low net that divides the court in half. Cf. lawn tennis. See illus. under racket 2.
- Anglo-French: take!, imperatire. plural of tenir to hold, take, receive, apparently used as a server's call
- Middle English tenetz, ten(e)ys 1350–1400
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'tennis' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Agassi
- American twist
- Ashe
- Australian doubles
- Becker
- Betz
- Borg
- Borotra
- Budge
- Cawley
- Connolly
- Connors
- Court
- Drobny
- Edberg
- Evert
- Federer
- Fry
- Graf
- Hewitt
- King
- Laver
- Lendl
- Lenglen
- Murray
- Nastase
- Navratilova
- Newcombe
- Perry
- account
- ace
- ad
- advantage
- advantage court
- alley
- amateur
- anymore
- approach shot
- apres
- backcourt
- backhand
- ball
- ball boy
- ball girl
- bandy
- banner
- baseline
- baseliner
- bat
- battledore