SOMERSAULT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does somersault mean? 

• SOMERSAULT (noun)
  The noun SOMERSAULT has 1 sense:

1. an acrobatic feat in which the feet roll over the head (either forward or backward) and return

  Familiarity information: SOMERSAULT used as a noun is very rare.

• SOMERSAULT (verb)
  The verb SOMERSAULT has 1 sense:

1. do a somersault

  Familiarity information: SOMERSAULT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOMERSAULT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An acrobatic feat in which the feet roll over the head (either forward or backward) and return

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

flip; somersault; somersaulting; somerset; summersault; summerset

Hypernyms ("somersault" is a kind of...):

tumble (an acrobatic feat of rolling or turning end over end)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "somersault"):

flip-flop (a backward somersault)

Derivation:

somersault (do a somersault)

• SOMERSAULT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they somersault    ... he / she / it somersaults   
Past simple: somersaulted   
Past participle: somersaulted   
-ing form: somersaulting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Do a somersault

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "somersault" is one way to...):

roll over (make a rolling motion or turn)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

somersault; somersaulting (an acrobatic feat in which the feet roll over the head (either forward or backward) and return)

 Context examples 

We went with a back somersault down the front steps.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A spear's length from him, they each threw a somersault into the air, and came down upon their feet with smirking faces and their hands over their hearts.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His body turned a half-somersault in the air, and he would have landed on his back had he not twisted, catlike, still in the air, in the effort to bring his feet to the earth.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He might just as well have turned a somersault and uttered an Indian war whoop, for his face was so full of suppressed excitement and his voice so treacherously joyful that everyone jumped up, though he only said, in a queer, breathless voice, Here's another Christmas present for the March family.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)