team
Americannoun
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teams
plural
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a number of persons forming one of the sides in a game or contest.
a football team.
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a number of persons associated in some joint action.
a team of advisers.
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two or more horses, oxen, or other animals harnessed together to draw a vehicle, plow, or the like.
-
one or more draft animals together with the harness and vehicle drawn.
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a family of young animals, especially ducks or pigs.
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Obsolete. offspring or progeny; lineage or stock.
verb (used with object)
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teams,
present (3rd person singular)
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teamed,
past participle, past
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teaming
present participle
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to join together in a team.
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Chiefly Northern U.S. Older Use. to convey or transport by means of a team; haul.
verb (used without object)
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teams,
present (3rd person singular)
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teamed,
past participle, past
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teaming
present participle
adjective
noun
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a group of people organized to work together
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a group of players forming one of the sides in a sporting contest
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two or more animals working together to pull a vehicle or agricultural implement
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such animals and the vehicle
the coachman riding his team
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dialect a flock, herd, or brood
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obsolete ancestry
verb
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to make or cause to make a team
he teamed George with Robert
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(tr) to drag or transport in or by a team
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(intr) to drive a team
Grammar
See collective noun.
Usage
What does team mean? A team is a group of people who work together in a joint action, as in Our Academic Decathlon team was made up of some of the smartest kids in our school. A team is also a group of people on one side of a contest or game, such as a soccer team or a trivia team. A team is also two or more draft animals, such as horses, harnessed together to pull something, like a plow or a cart. To team up is to form a group to work together, as in Miles and Lex teamed up to study for the big science test next month. Example: My team is working hard on these software solutions for streaming platforms.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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teamsimple
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teamssimple
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have teamedperfect
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has teamedperfect
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am teamingprogressive
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are teamingprogressive
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is teamingprogressive
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have been teamingperfect progressive
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has been teamingperfect progressive
Past
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teamedsimple
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had teamedperfect
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was teamingprogressive
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were teamingprogressive
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had been teamingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of team
First recorded before 900; Middle English teme (noun), Old English tēam “child-bearing, brood, offspring, set of draft beasts”; cognate with Dutch toom “bridle, reins,” German Zaum, Old Norse taumr
Explanation
If you're part of a frisbee team, you're part of a group of people who cooperate to throw a plastic disc around. It's neat. Two or more of people working together on a single task can be called a team, whether that's an informal team or a professional one. The two horses that pull your carriage are a team, and the guys you play soccer with on Saturday mornings are also a team. Team can also be a verb, meaning "to join forces." If you want to beautify your town, team up with local people to paint a mural for the community.
Vocabulary lists containing team
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Stallions’ coach said he always tells the team: “When that ball snaps, it is seven seconds of everything you’ve got.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
Berry’s legal team downplayed Martinez’s restraining order and allegations, telling The Times in a statement, “to say this filing is entirely meritless and deliberately misleading would be an understatement.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
The CEO of Arini’s U.S. business, Gavin Yates, left the firm in August and is expected to launch a distressed debt team at Citadel early next year, according to people familiar with the matter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
When James and Kenny were tied in a vote for who was a traitor, Bash persuaded Romesh to banish Kenny instead of James - thereby securing victory for team faithful.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
These were not the large timber wolves but the smaller northern brush wolves, perhaps weighing forty or fifty pounds each, about as large as most of my team.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
Cooked in the first NBA Cup game for both teams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
He breeds the bugs and sends them all over the world, often to canine detection teams who help hotels spot infestations.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Intel’s management team noted that while elevated memory prices are crimping PC demand, another issue is that corporate information-technology teams now face more limited budgets for equipment purchases.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
In 1934, when two undefeated teams, New York University and City College of New York, played, nine of the 10 starters were Jewish.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
The teams will not rest this first night—they are too excited and must be allowed to run until they settle in—so the darkness brings a particular insanity of passing teams and tangles and moose.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
In Asia, it has teamed up with South Korea’s SK Group to build data centers.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
In 2012, he teamed up with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help eradicate polio in Nigeria.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
Hill also teamed up with American country music star John Berry for the album.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
Bianna Golodryga teamed up with Israeli TV news anchor Yonit Levi to write ‘Don’t Feed the Lion.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
They’d somehow teamed up with the Nightbeast to intimidate the town councils and make sure Amendment S didn’t pass.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
In an address to a Montreal research institute before the summit with Carney, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen mentioned the Cohere-Aleph Alpha merger, citing the "strong appetite for teaming up."
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
Also on Monday, Meta and Shopify said they are teaming up to allow Muse to complete purchases on behalf of users.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
This is the backdrop to the promise of an "alliance of the future" between Canada and the EU, and the idea of "teaming up" with the UK too.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
In these situations, two ships are essentially teaming up to move crude out of the Persian Gulf.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
Many of them get by by teaming up with another wage earner, a spouse or grown child.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
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