Sprints

How to spell sprints

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce sprints

What does sprints mean?

1. nounShort races at full speed, or brief intense bursts of activity.
2. verbRuns at full speed over a short distance.

Sprints in a sentence

• noun

  The training plan alternates long jogs with short sprints.

• verb

  She always sprints for the bus when the rain starts.

• noun

  The project was broken into two-week sprints with clear goals.

• verb

  The dog sprints across the garden the moment the gate opens.

Where does sprints come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The word sprint has Scandinavian roots and is closely tied to Old Norse spretta, meaning 'to jump up' or 'to burst forward'. It surfaced in English dialect, particularly in the north, as a word for a short, all-out burst of running, and was reinforced by related Germanic words suggesting a sudden springing movement. By the late nineteenth century sprint had become the standard term in competitive athletics for a short race run at maximum speed. The plural and the verb form simply add -s, and because the cluster of consonants is spelled exactly as it sounds, the word holds few surprises. Its sense of explosive, brief effort now reaches well beyond the track into business and everyday speech.

How the word is built

• sprint (to run at full speed)
• -s (plural noun / third-person singular verb suffix)