sportsmanlyadj.
/ˈspɔːtsmənli/, U.S. /ˈspɔrtsmənli/ = sportsmanlike adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > player or sportsperson > [adjective]
sporting1679
sportive1713
sportsmanly1778
sportsmanlike1816
reserve1869
sporty1889
sportif1953
society > morality > rightness or justice > [adjective] > fair or equitable > fair and generous
sportsmanly1778
dinkum1893
sportsmanlike1899
1778 W. Marshall Minutes Agric. 9 Sept. 1776 It is sometimes sportsmanly to suffer the huntsman to pursue the hounds, where it would be unsportsmanly in any other horseman to follow.
1853 H. W. Herbert Amer. Game 64 The worst, most murderous, and least sportsmanly of all these artifices is ‘the battery’, an engine..still in use in all the Long Island waters.
1888 Titusville (Pa.) Morning Herald 10 Jan. Vance is a student of nature from a picturesque and sportsmanly rather than a scientific, point of view.
1912 Nation 5 Oct. 9/1 My sportsmanly approval was misplaced.
2005 Prince George (Brit. Columbia) Citizen (Nexis) 11 Apr. 4 The Kings show us how the game is intended to be fun and sportsmanly.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1778