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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

marathon.

A 42.195-kilometre (26-mile-385-yard) road race.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈmæɹəθən/UK/ˈmæɹəˌθɑn/Canada, US/ˈmɛɹəˌθɑn/Canada, US/ˈmæɹə(ˌ)θɔn/Australia
  1. A 42.195-kilometre (26-mile-385-yard) road race.

  2. Any extended or sustained activity.

    broadly · figuratively
    He had a cleaning marathon the night before his girlfriend came over.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Pre-Greekbor.? Ancient Greek μάραθον (márathon) Ancient Greek -ών (-ṓn) Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn)lbor. French marathonubor. English marathon From French marathon, coined in 1894 by linguist Michel Bréal for the first modern time Olympic Games after Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn), a town northeast of Athens. Phidippides the Greek ran the distance from Marathon to Athens to deliver a message regarding the Battle of Marathon. The modern sport of marathon running is based on a run approximately the same distance. The toponym itself comes from μάραθον (márathon, “fennel”) and refers to the prevalence of the plant in the area.

verb/ˈmæɹəθən/UK/ˈmæɹəˌθɑn/Canada, US/ˈmɛɹəˌθɑn/Canada, US/ˈmæɹə(ˌ)θɔn/Australia
  1. To run a marathon.

    intransitive
  2. To watch or read a large number of instalments of (a film, book, TV series, etc.) in one sitting.

    informal · transitive
    We're going to marathon Star Trek next weekend.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Pre-Greekbor.? Ancient Greek μάραθον (márathon) Ancient Greek -ών (-ṓn) Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn)lbor. French marathonubor. English marathon From French marathon, coined in 1894 by linguist Michel Bréal for the first modern time Olympic Games after Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn), a town northeast of Athens. Phidippides the Greek ran the distance from Marathon to Athens to deliver a message regarding the Battle of Marathon. The modern sport of marathon running is based on a run approximately the same distance. The toponym itself comes from μάραθον (márathon, “fennel”) and refers to the prevalence of the plant in the area.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.