1. A large room equipped for physical exercise or training of various kinds; for example, in a school or a private sports club: Some of the physical education at schools takes place in the gymnasium, a large hall that allows many students to be active in sports at the same time.
2. In Europe, primarily in Germany and some other European countries, a secondary school where the students are prepared for advanced education in universities: Almost all of the towns and cities in Germany have a gymnasium, where the students can receive an "Abitur" after successfully completing eight or nine years of education.

The ancient Greeks placed a high value on both physical and mental fitness. Each important city in Greece had a public area set aside in which young men would gather to exercise, compete in sports, and receive training in philosophy, music, and literature.

Living in a warm climate and not wanting to be encumbered in their activities by unnecessary clothing, the Greeks would typically do their exercising without wearing any apparel.

3. Etymology: the term given for the exercise area was gymnasion,; literally, "school for unclothed exercise"; from the Greek verb gymnazein, "to exercise with no clothing"; which is a derivative of the adjective gymnos, "unclothed".

The Greek gymnasion, became the Latin gymnasium, which was used in two distinct senses to mean both "an exercise ground" and "a public school".