titleholder

[ tahyt-l-hohl-der ]

noun

1. a person who holds a title.
2. Sports. a person who holds a championship; present champion.

titleholder

/ ˈtaɪtəlˌhəʊldə /

noun

1. a person who holds a title, esp a sporting championship

Derived Forms

• ˈtitleˌholding, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of titleholder¹

First recorded in 1900–05; title + holder

Example Sentences

Frontier more than doubled the speed of the last titleholder, Japan’s Fugaku supercomputer, and is the first to officially clock speeds over a quintillion calculations a second—a milestone computing has pursued for 14 years.

From Singularity Hub 

By the 20th move, Nepomniachtchi had developed a pleasant position and opened up nearly an hour advantage over the titleholder.

From FiveThirtyEight

All four participants are current titleholders, a setup that, in the absence of a FIFA Club World Cup for women, creates an unofficial global championship.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• challenger
• champ
• defender
• hero
• medalist
• number one
• winner