10.0: The highest possible and most desired routine score for gymnasts to achieve on a single routine.  In the past and perhaps in the future, at least for men’s gymnastics, scores may exceed 10.0 if they have a high degree of difficulty. 

Abduction: In general, refers to movements moving outward from the center of the body.  Hip abduction is moving the legs, knees and feet outward. Shoulder abduction is moving the arms and hands out to the side. 

Acro: Term referring to tumbling skill on beam or floor exercise, used most commonly when describing combination dance-acro requirements.

Acrobatics: A gymnastics term for control skills requiring balance, strength, and/or flexibility. Sometimes called corner skills in men’s gymnastics.  For women, it includes some of the slower, more controlled elements, like a front walkover.  See also - Sports Acrobatics. 

Active Stretching: The practice of having a relaxed limb moved beyond its normal range of motion with the assistance of a partner. Another method of active flexibility is using high kicks of the leg.  This is the type of flexibility exercise has more potential for muscle tears than passive stretching.

Adagio: means slow, in dance it means a slow, sustained movement. 

Adduction: Hip adduction is bringing the knees together. Shoulder adduction is pressing the arms downward while out to the side. 

Adductor Muscles: The pair of adductor muscles on the inside of the thighs pull the legs toward each other.  These are the muscles that must be stretched in order to perform a straddle split. 

Adolph: A front somersault (usually layout) with 3½ twists done on trampoline. 

Aerial: A skill performed without the hands touching the floor or the apparatus. Most commonly  used to refer to an aerial cartwheel or aerial (front) walkover.

Airplane: A trampoline skill done by jumping with a 1/2 longitudinal axis (LA) twist to a front drop. 

All Around: Describes a gymnast who competes in all their gymnastics events. For men, this is six events, and for women it is four events.  Also refers to the event competition won by scoring the highest score sum total in all of the events. 

Allegro: means fast, in dance it refers to jumps performed to a sharp, quick tempo.  There are two types of allegro jumps - grand allegro are large jumps and petite allegro are small jumps. 

Allongé: To to stretch or elongate.

Alternates: Any tumbling pass that directly connects two saltos (somersaults or flips) by the use of any handspring skill.   For example: Round-off whip back handspring whip. It is more common to see alternates done with backward tumbling rather than front tumbling. 

Amanar:  a vault named after Simona Amanar of Romania.  The vault is a 2 1/2 twisting lay-out Yurchenko done by her at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Amplitude: In gymnastics, this term refers to height, distance and full extension in the execution of a particular skill. In general, the higher the or bigger a skill is performed, the better the amplitude and the resulting score. Historically at times, the FIG code has given bonus for amplitude. 

Apparatus: Any one of the pieces of equipment used in gymnastics competition, including the vaulting table, uneven bars, balance beam, the horizontal bar, parallel bars, the pommel horse and still rings.

Arabesque: In gymnastics and ballet, a pose on one leg with the other leg extended behind the body. The supporting leg either bent or straight. Stand on one foot and raise the other leg to the back in a split (preferably a 180 degree split) with a straight leg and turned out from the hip; while keeping the trunk fully upright. 
Also see Turnout and Scale

Arabesque Penche: An arabesque scale in which the back is allowed to drop so that the rear leg may be raised higher. 

Arabian Front: A tumbling somersaulting skill, which usually begins from a back tumbling skill like a round-off or back handspring, and consists of a ½ turn into front salto.  Can be done in tuck, pike or layout and can also be stepped –out.  Also now done from a stand on beam.

Arabian Double Front: An Arabian front done with two somersaults. Done in either tuck or pike or even in layout. 

Arch: A position, in which the back is curved backwards, the chest is open and. the body takes on a convex shape.  Used in dance movements.  Is not usually desirable in tumbling or bars. 

Arrière, en: Dance term meaning to the back. 

Artistic Gymnastics: The Olympic sport for men and women performed on apparatus and judged individually, by event, in the All-Around and by team. Men's events are floor exercise, horizontal bar, parallel bars, pommel horse, still rings and vault. Women's events are vault, uneven parallel bars balance beam and floor exercise.

A Skills: The lowest level of difficulty rating for gymnastics skills other than moves of no value.  For example, front and back handsprings are rated as "A" level skills by the F.I.G. (International Gymnastics Federation).

  Assemblé: To assemble, a jump from one foot landing on two feet.  A common ballet and gymnastics movement where the legs are brought together in the air. It begins with a step and ends on both feet. The gymnast lifts one leg up and springs off the other  On landing, both feet have closed together. An assemblé is usually a preparatory movement to another skill, usually a jump.  An assemblé can travel in the direction in which the leg was raised and can be performed while turning or with a beat in the air.

Attitude: A pose on one leg with the other extended with the knee slightly bent either to the front, side, or back. A position of the body, similar to the arabesque, where the extended leg is bent at the knee.  See Arabesque. 
Also what gymnasts and some coaches have too much of.

Avant, en:  Dance term meaning to the front. 

Gymnastics Dictionary