an activity that you do for pleasure when you are not working Her hobbies include swimming and gardening. I only play jazz as a hobby. Synonymsinteresthobby 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:Eating out is the national pastime in France.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:Eating out is the national interest/hobby in France. Do you have any pastimes?Patterns a popular interest/hobby/pastime to have/share interests/hobbies to take up/pursue a(n) interest/hobby WordfinderclubAGM, the chair, club, hobby, member, newsletter, secretary, society, subscription, treasurer Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveenjoyable, fun, interesting, … verb + hobbyhave, enjoy, indulge, … prepositionamong your hobbies, as a hobby See full entry See related entries: Hobbies 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’.Extra examples Cooking is her pet hobby. Cycling and karate are among her hobbies. Do you have any hobbies? He collects postcards as a hobby. He takes photographs as a hobby. Photography can be an expensive hobby. She never had any time to pursue her hobbies. Why don’t you take up a new hobby? Her hobbies include swimming and cooking.
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