1 funambulism | Definition of funambulism
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funambulism

noun
fu·​nam·​bu·​lism | \ fyu̇-ˈnam-byə-ˌli-zəm How to pronounce funambulism (audio) \

Definition of funambulism

1 : tightrope walking
2 : a show especially of mental agility
Other Words from funambulism Did You Know? Learn More about funambulism

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Other Words from funambulism

funambulist \ fyu̇-​ˈnam-​byə-​list How to pronounce funambulist (audio) \ noun

Did You Know?

Back in ancient Rome, tightrope walking was a popular spectacle at public gatherings. The Latin word for "tightrope walker" is "funambulus," from the Latin funis, meaning "rope," plus ambulare, meaning "to walk." It doesn't take any funambulism on our part to see how the word for an impressive act of physical skill and agility came to mean an impressive act of mental skill or agility. That extended sense of the word has been around since at least 1886, when British academic and writer Augustus Jessopp described the act of diagramming sentences as "horrible lessons of ghastly grammar and dreary funambulism."

First Known Use of funambulism

1801, in the meaning defined at sense 1

History and Etymology for funambulism

Latin funambulus ropewalker, from funis rope + ambulare to walk

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More from Merriam-Webster on funambulism

Rhyming Dictionary: Words that rhyme with funambulism

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