Did you know?
If you've ever watched the Tour de France on television, you've seen the peloton, the brightly colored pack of riders making up the central group. You may have also gained some inadvertent insight into the word itself, which as you may have guessed is French in origin. In French, "peloton" literally means "ball," but it is most often used with the meaning "group." It's frequently used in the bicycling context, just as in English, but it can also refer to a group in a marathon or other sporting event. French peloton can also mean "squad" or "platoon," and since we’ve told you that you probably won’t be too surprised to learn that it is also the source of our word platoon.
Examples of peloton in a Sentence
Jessica Hopkins, New York Times, 28 July 2025
Stage 20 sends the peloton on a challenging 184.2 km route from Nantua to Pontarlier, deep in France's Jura region, with nearly 3,000 meters of climbing on tap.
—Kilty Cleary, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 July 2025
Coming right after the race's first rest day, Stage 11 offers a chance for the general classification contenders to stay tucked in the peloton, while the breakaway specialists and classics-style riders take center stage.
—Kilty Cleary, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 July 2025
The results were comparable with some of the best riders in the peloton.
—Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 5 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for peloton
Cite this Entry
“Peloton.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peloton. Accessed 7 Aug. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share