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MVP

or M.V.P.

abbreviation for

  1. Most Valuable Player: an accolade or award, originally used in team sports to recognize one player for game-changing excellence, and also used outside of sports to recognize excellence in the contributions of an individual to a group effort.
  2. Minimum Viable Product: a prototype of a product, as a software app or video game, that includes functional versions of key elements that are planned for inclusion in the final product, and that is shared with a small audience whose feedback is used to inform and direct further product development.


MVP

abbreviation for

  1. most valuable player: the man or woman judged to be the outstanding player in a sport during a particular season or championship
“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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Example Sentences

Freddie Freeman’s MVP performance throughout the series was something to behold, from his walk-off grand slam in the first game to the two-run single that helped the Dodgers win it all.

The Eagles can kill you both ways, and Saquon Barkley is on an MVP pace.

That brings us back to Trout, the three-time MVP who has not played even 120 games in a season since 2019.

Barkley is right up there with quarterbacks Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes as a one of the leading MVP candidates.

The Giants decided not to keep Saquon Barkley, and now the Eagle is an MVP candidate as another spectacular performance, 255 yards rushing, ruins the Rams.

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More About MVP

What does MVP mean?

MVP is an abbreviation for the most valuable player. In sports, players are often awarded with the title of MVP for exemplary performance on and contributions to their teams during a season.

An MVP can also more generally refer to someone who is or has done something exceptional or important, especially to the overall success of a group or cause.

How is MVP pronounced?

[ em-vee-pee ]

What are some other words related to MVP?

Where does MVP come from?

MVP can refer to the most impactful person on a sports team for a particular game or season, or to a player judged to be the best overall in a division, conference, league, or entire sport during its year.

The abbreviation is first recorded in 1930, originally used in the sport of baseball. However, the National Hockey League has the oldest trophy for what are now considered the MVP awards in U.S. professional sports: the Hart Memorial Trophy, first given in 1924 to Frank Nighbor of the Ottawa Senators. Impress your friends or beef up your trivia night game with these original MVPs in other major US sports:

  • Major League Baseball: Lefty Grove (1931 season)
  • National Basketball Association: Bob Pettit (1955 season)
  • National Football League: Jim Brown (1957 season)

Because of the subjectivity of what’s considered “most valuable,” MVP awards are given by sports journalists (often through the Associated Press) rather than the teams or sports leagues themselves. To even be considered for a MVP award, a player has to demonstrate incredible skill and exemplary performance. This player is considered the main reason for the team’s success even if that team didn’t dominate the sport overall that season.

From sports, MVP easily lent itself to most valuable persons of other groups, such as at workplaces or other organizations, as well as to people and things considered important, influential, or indispensable more generally (e.g., the 2018 MVP of tech startups).

How is MVP used in real life?

MVP still sees plenty of usage in all things sports, used especially of players in specific games and sports seasons.

MVP is also widely used outside of sports for anyone or anything that significantly contributes to the success of some effort or is considered significant for one reason or another.

Sometimes MVP is used more playfully for people or things that really came through or who are more generally great or admirable.

More examples of MVP:

“Rikako Ikee Named MVP of Asian Games”

—Andy Ross, Swimming World (headline), September 2018

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