Definition of hobby noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

hobby

noun

/ˈhɒbi/

/ˈhɑːbi/

(plural hobbies)

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an activity that you do for pleasure when you are not working
- Do you have any hobbies?
- Her hobbies include swimming and gardening.
- Why don't you take up a new hobby?
- My favourite hobby is definitely scuba diving.
- as a hobby I only play jazz as a hobby.
Synonyms interest
interesthobby ▪ game ▪ pastimeThese are all words for activities that you do for pleasure in your spare time.
interest an activity or a subject that you do or study for pleasure in your spare time:
Her main interests are music and gardening.
hobby an activity that you do for pleasure in your spare time:
His hobbies include swimming and cooking.
game a children’s activity when they play with toys, pretend to be somebody else, etc.; an activity that you do to have fun:
a game of cops and robbers
He was playing games with the dog.
pastime an activity that people do for pleasure in their spare time:
Fishing is a popular pastime.
interest, hobby or pastime?A hobby is often more active than an interest: His main hobby is football (= he plays football). • His main interest is football (= he watches and reads about football, and may or may not play it). Pastime is used when talking about people in general; when you are talking about yourself or an individual person it is more usual to use interest or hobby: Fishing is a popular pastime. • Do you have any pastimes? Patterns
- a popular interest/hobby/pastime
- to have/share interests/hobbies
- to take up/pursue a(n) interest/hobby
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Extra Examples
- Cooking is her pet hobby.
- Cycling and karate are among her hobbies.
- He collects postcards as a hobby.
- Photography can be an expensive hobby.
- She never had any time to pursue her hobbies.
- He wanted to turn his hobby into a business.
- They spent their retirement enjoying hobbies and taking trips.
Topics Hobbiesa1
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- enjoyable
- fun
- interesting
- …
verb + hobby
- have
- enjoy
- indulge
- …
preposition
- among your hobbies
- as a hobby
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Word Originlate Middle English hobyn, hoby, from pet forms of the given name Robin. Originally referring to a small horse or pony, it later came to denote a toy horse or hobby horse, hence ‘an activity done for pleasure’.

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perspective

noun

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