# exercise
## English
### Alternative forms

* exercize (obsolete)
* exercice (obsolete, noun senses only)

### Etymology

From Middle English exercise, from Old French exercise, from Latin exercitium.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɛk.sə.saɪz/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈɛk.sɚ.saɪz/
** Homophone: exorcise (one pronunciation)
* Hyphenation: ex‧er‧cise
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

exercise (countable and uncountable, plural exercises)
* (countable) Any activity designed to develop or hone a skill or ability.
    The teacher told us that the next exercise is to write an essay.
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 25:Where noyse of armes, or vew of martiall guize / Might not reuiue desire of knightly exercize.
** 1693, [John Locke], “§178”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:an exercise of the eyes and memory
* (countable, uncountable) Activity intended to improve physical, or sometimes mental, strength and fitness.
    Swimming is good exercise.
    I like to do my exercises every morning before breakfast.
    I do crosswords for mental exercise.
** 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. […] He was smooth-faced, and his fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man in good physical condition through active exercise, yet well content with the world's apportionment.
** 2018, Timothy R. Jennings, The Aging Brain, →ISBN, page 107:Regular mental exercise keeps the circuits of the brain active and healthy and reduces the risk of dementia.
* A setting in action or practicing; employment in the proper mode of activity; exertion; application; use.
    The law guarantees us the free exercise of our rights.
** December 8, 1801, Thomas Jefferson, first annual message
    exercise of the important function confided by the constitution to the legislature
** 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:O we will walk this world, / Yoked in all exercise of noble end.
* The performance of an office, ceremony, or duty.
    I assisted the ailing vicar in the exercise of his parish duties.
** 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:Lewis […] refused even those of the church of England […] the public exercise of their religion.
** c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii]:He doth entreat your Grace, my noble lord, To visit him tomorrow or next day. To draw him from his holy exercise.
* (obsolete) That which gives practice; a trial; a test.
** 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 77:But patience is more oft the exerciſe / Of Saints, the trial of thir fortitude,

#### Derived terms

* aquacise
* boxercise
* Brandt-Daroff exercise
* compound exercise
* cyberexercise
* dancercise
* deskercise
* ekker
* exercise ball
* exercise bicycle
* exercise bike
* exercise bone
* exercise book
* exercise bulimia
* exercise cycle
* exercise for the reader
* exercise in futility
* exercise machine
* exercise price
* exercise regime
* exercise track
* exercisewear
* exercise wheel
* exercisible
* exercycle
* exergame
* exergaming
* exertainment
* five-finger exercise
* five finger exercise
* floor exercise
* free-exercise clause
* in-basket exercise
* in-tray exercise
* jazzercise
* low exercise price option
* manual exercise
* military exercise
* nonexercise
* postexercise
* preexercise
* rebound exercise
* run for the exercise
* sexercise
* training exercise
* vacuum exercise
* watercise

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

exercise (third-person singular simple present exercises, present participle exercising, simple past and past participle exercised)
* To exert for the sake of training or improvement; to practice in order to develop.
    to exercise troops or horses;  to exercise one's brain with a puzzle
* (intransitive) To perform physical activity for health or training.
    I exercise at the gym every day.
* (transitive) To use (a right, an option, etc.); to put into practice.
    The tenant exercised his option to renew the tenancy.
    She is going to exercise her right to vote.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 22:29:The people of the land haue vsed oppression, and exercised robbery, and haue vexed the poore and needie: yea, they haue oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
* (now often in passive) To occupy the attention and effort of; to task; to tax, especially in a painful or vexatious manner; harass; to vex; to worry or make anxious.
    exercised with pain
** 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 88–89:Where pain of unextinguiſhable fire / Muſt exerciſe us without hope of end
* (obsolete) To set in action; to cause to act, move, or make exertion; to give employment to.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 24:16:And herein doe I exercise my selfe to haue alwayes a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.
** 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 373, column 2:Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.

#### Derived terms

* exercisability
* exercisable
* exercised (adj.)
* exerciser
* exercise the ferret
* exercising (n.)
* nonexercising
* outexercise
* overexercise
* underexercise
* unexercised

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### See also

* train
* work out

### See also

* exorcise

### Further reading

* “exercise”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “exercise”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.