Stadium Definition

stādē-əm

stadia, stadiums

noun

stadiums

In ancient Greece and Rome,

Webster's New World

A large, usually open structure with tiers of seats for spectators, as for athletic events.

Webster's New World

A course on which foot races were held in ancient Greece, usually semicircular and having tiers of seats for spectators.

American Heritage

An ancient Greek measure of distance, based on the length of such a course and equal to about 185 meters (607 feet).

American Heritage

A period or stage in the life history of an animal or plant.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Stadium

Singular:

stadium

Plural:

stadia 1, stadiums

From Latin stadium (“a measure of length, a race course") (commonly one-eighth of a Roman mile; translated in early English Bibles by furlong), from Ancient Greek στάδιον (stadion, “a measure of length, a running track"), especially the track at Olympia, which was one stadium in length. The Greek word may literally mean "fixed standard of length" (from στάδιος (stadios, “firm, fixed"), from Proto-Indo-European *sta-, whence also stand).

From Wiktionary
Middle English unit of length from Latin from Greek stadion perhaps alteration (influenced by stadios firm) of spadion racetrack from spān to pull

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition