Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A minor role in a theatrical production, usually without speaking lines.
- noun A performer playing such a role.
- noun Sports A collegiate athlete who has not been recruited and has no athletic scholarship.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
student athlete that wants totry out for acollege sports /athletic team without thebenefit of ascholarship or having beenrecruited . - noun An
actor of a small (or "bit ") part in atheatrical production orfilm , often without speaking lines. - noun Such a part in a
play or film. Usually as walk-on role or walk-on part.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun plays a small part in a dramatic production
- adjective not capable of or especially not involving speech or spoken lines
Etymologies
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Examples
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He was a seasoned champion, and I was just some no-name walk-on from Michigan.
NPR Topics: News 2011
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He was a walk-on college player at the University of California and a 20th-round pick of the Blue Jays in 1989.
Thorne: Kent's bristly personality can't erase Hall of Fame career 2009
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Tyler Summitt, Pat's son, 20, plays on the men's team at Tennessee as a walk-on.
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WASHINGTON—The inspirational 1993 movie "Rudy" celebrates Daniel Ruettiger as a plucky underdog who overcomes long odds and his diminutive stature to earn a walk-on role on Notre Dame's legendary college-football team.
SEC Tackles 'Rudy' in Fraud Case Andrew Ackerman 2011
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While Gervais could argue that only a fool would forgo such walk-on talent, there was more than a whiff of cruising for a schmoozing.
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People just don't go from being a walk-on to a first-round NFL pick.
Matthews' rise gives USC an impressive linebacker trifecta 2009
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These days, whether it's at the recent NFL combine or at the Senior Bowl or on the USC practice field, people have a hard time believing Matthews was a walk-on, a kid who loved to play football but was deemed by Division I coaches, including Carroll, to be too slow and too small to make a difference.
Matthews' rise gives USC an impressive linebacker trifecta 2009
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With just eight scholarship players and one walk-on left on the roster after four players were dismissed in early February, Tennessee State closed the regular season on a 5-2 run before falling to Murray State in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for the second consecutive season.
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Then there was the walk-on, Clay Matthews from Agoura Hills, Calif., the son of the former USC great and NFL linebacker Clay Matthews Jr. and the nephew of Hall of Fame offensive lineman Bruce Matthews.
Matthews' rise gives USC an impressive linebacker trifecta 2009
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And so as I was writing, Curtis played this walk-on role, really, of showing up to help when the workload called for it and then disappearing.
Catherine Murdock discusses her first novel, Dairy Queen. 2010
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