football
a game in which two opposing teams of 11 players each defend goals at opposite ends of a field having goal posts at each end, with points being scored chiefly by carrying the ball across the opponent's goal line and by place-kicking or drop-kicking the ball over the crossbar between the opponent's goal posts.: Compare conversion (def. 13), field goal (def. 1), safety (def. 6), touchdown.
the ball used in this game, an inflated oval with a bladder contained in a casing usually made of leather.
Chiefly British. Rugby (def. 1).
Chiefly British. soccer.
something sold at a reduced or special price.
any person or thing treated roughly or tossed about: They're making a political football of this issue.
(initial capital letter)U.S. Government Slang. a briefcase containing the codes and options the president would use to launch a nuclear attack, carried by a military aide and kept available to the president at all times.
Informal. to offer for sale at a reduced or special price.
Origin of football
1Words Nearby football
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use football in a sentence
As the basketball season for other Division I colleges staggers toward its conclusion and lower-division schools begin spring football campaigns, some college coaches and players fear the Ivy League will skip spring sports entirely.
Ivy League sports were shut down quickly by coronavirus. A restart is proving much slower. | Glynn A. Hill | February 10, 2021 | Washington PostIt’s a level of success that just doesn’t seem replicable, however much he owes to the fact that GM Jason Licht and head coach Bruce Arians built one of the most complete teams in football.
He was far more concerned with football, his no-distraction reputation going back to his first head coaching stint in Cleveland.
Marty Schottenheimer’s legacy can be measured in teams’ regret over letting him go | Leonard Shapiro | February 9, 2021 | Washington PostSo if we can get our heads around that like we’ve done in football, football will fix itself.
NFL begins an uncertain offseason, with questions about vaccines, the salary cap and more | Mark Maske | February 9, 2021 | Washington PostThey took away the sidelines, and they did a good job of rallying to the football and making tackles.
That really was one of the least enjoyable Super Bowls of all time | Neil Greenberg | February 9, 2021 | Washington Post
The clichés about football-obsessed husbands and frustrated wives are pretty heavy-handed.
‘A Gronking to Remember’ Speed Read: 8 Naughtiest Bits | Emily Shire | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Dallas Cowboys sell out their state-of-the art football stadium.
His accuser was smeared and demeaned, and a star football player was allowed to keep on playing.
Jameis Winston Cleared of Rape Like Every Other College Sports Star | Robert Silverman | December 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTArmy B-squad players who fail to make it onto the varsity team after a year or two usually quit football.
I watch football, basketball, and hockey on TV and sometimes “The Bass Pros” on Outdoor Channel.
Up to a Point: They Made Me Write About Lena Dunham | P. J. O’Rourke | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn his football days the "fighting face" of the Indian star had often appeared on sporting pages.
Mystery Ranch | Arthur ChapmanUnder the heat of the exercise during the football game the victim's body generated the gas which he inhaled.
For weeks before it the children practiced racing, and trained themselves in jumping, football, quoiting and such sports.
The Underworld | James C. Welshfootball would, be better, if it had been the right time of the year, and we had grass to play on; now it might create suspicion.
Digby Heathcote | W.H.G. Kingstonfootball shall be played with a light india-rubber globe, and "pushing" shall be strictly forbidden.
British Dictionary definitions for football
/ (ˈfʊtˌbɔːl) /
any of various games played with a round or oval ball and usually based on two teams competing to kick, head, carry, or otherwise propel the ball into each other's goal, territory, etc: See association football, rugby, Australian Rules, American football, Gaelic football
(as modifier): a football ground; a football supporter
the ball used in any of these games or their variants
a problem, issue, etc, that is continually passed from one group or person to another and treated as a pretext for argument instead of being resolved: he accused the government of using the strike as a political football
Derived forms of football
- footballer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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