Definition of "sportsmanship" [sports•man•ship]

• The fact or practice of participating in sports or a sport. (noun)
• Conduct and attitude considered as befitting participants in sports, especially fair play, courtesy, striving spirit, and grace in losing. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This type of sportsmanship is important, because the risk of injury from continued hits is fairly high, if you are hit the chances are you will continue being hit until you call yourself out."
• "Their highest instinct of sportsmanship is to catch a man with his back turned and to smite him a cunning blow with a tomahawk that severs the spinal column at the base of the brain."
• "In my heart I know that good sportsmanship is an important component within our system of morality and one of the things that makes us unique in this crazy world."