noun
somersault
SUH-muh-solt
noun
1
A full 360-degree roll of the body, forwards or backwards, either in the air or on the ground, so the feet pass over the head.
"The gymnast landed the somersault without a wobble."
"My little brother kept doing somersaults across the living room floor."
verb
1
To perform this kind of forward or backward roll.
"The stunt driver somersaulted the car and walked away unhurt."
"The diver somersaulted twice before hitting the water."
How to Use Somersault
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA head-over-heels flip of your whole body.
Common pairings
do a somersault
backward somersault
somersault through the air
Word Forms
somersaulted past tense, somersaults plural, somersaults singular
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Etymology
From an old French word for the same move, sombresault, which traces back through Occitan sobresalt to Latin suprā ("over") + saltus ("jump") — literally "an over-jump."