esports

Or e-sports

[ee-spawrts]

noun

1. (usually used with a plural verb),  competitive tournaments of video games, especially among professional gamers.

2. (used with a singular verb),  esport, a video game suited to or popular in this kind of tournament.

adjective

1. of or relating to esports.

   an esports event;

   esports gambling.

Word History and Origins

Origin of esports¹

First recorded in 1995–2000; e- ² (electronic) + sports

Example Sentences

Players and fans of top-selling fighter video games -- think Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter -- converged on Nice over the weekend for the first European edition of Evo, the biggest esports championship for this gaming category.

Read more on Barron's

"The players have been waiting a long time for this tournament in Europe, it's a historic first," said Florent Gay, esports manager at Bandai Namco, maker of Tekken 8, one of the heavyweight games titles at the event.

Read more on Barron's

PIF established its own unit known as Savvy Games Group in 2021 to build out a more robust portfolio of acquisitions and investments in gaming and esports businesses.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Yet its venture into esports has gone relatively unnoticed by many.

Read more on BBC

However, Saudi Arabia has hosted major tournaments, including the Esports World Cup, and it will also host 2027's planned Olympic Esports Games.

Read more on BBC