featherweight

noun

feath·​er·​weight ˈfe-t͟hər-ˌwāt 

1

: one that is very light in weight

especially : a boxer in a weight division having a maximum limit of 126 pounds for professionals and 125 pounds for amateurs compare bantamweight, lightweight

2

: lightweight sense 2

featherweight adjective

Examples of featherweight in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But even the most featherweight of the bunch (Pixel 11) still imparted the sense that everything might tip over. — Kimberly Gedeon, PC Magazine, 1 Oct. 2026

Ki picked the 145-pound featherweight class because of its relative depth, and Chou said getting 32 fighters into a bracket requires a deeper pool, perhaps 50 fighters, to have alternates. — Oskar Garcia, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026

Pilla defeated Angel Colon in a 145-pound featherweight bout by way of a second-round TKO. — Justin Barrasso, Boston Herald, 30 Aug. 2026

The Cuban won flyweight gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics and later unified the WBA and IBF featherweight titles, and this is his bare-knuckle debut. — Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1812, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for featherweight

• abdicate
• abrogate
• acetate
• activate
• actuate
• aggravate
• agitate
• alginate
• alienate
• allocate
• amputate
• angulate

Kids Definition

featherweight

noun

feath·​er·​weight -ˌwāt 

1

: a very light weight

2

: one that weighs little

especially : a boxer in a weight division having an upper limit of about 126 pounds