Pelé

American

[pey-ley, pey-ley] / peɪˈleɪ, ˈpeɪ leɪ /

noun

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, 1940–2022, Brazilian soccer player, generally regarded as preeminent in the sport.

Pelé British

/ ˈpɛleɪ /

noun

real name Edson Arantes do Nascimento. born 1940, Brazilian footballer: scored 77 goals in 92 games for Brazil (1957–71) and was in the teams that won the World Cup in 1958, 1962, and 1970; awarded an honorary knighthood in 1997

"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

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.

Other economists describe him as a walking encyclopedia and the Pelé of central banking, referring to the Brazilian soccer legend.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

I would say, ‘I want Pelé to be No. 10.’

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2025

Netflix’s Pelé movie “contains nothing you couldn’t get from Wikipedia,” and the doc on Joyce Carol Oates is just a “glorified Wikipedia article.”

From Slate • Nov. 23, 2023

The heated debate over who is the best footballer in history, with most Brazilians going for Pelé and Argentinians split between Messi and Diego Maradona, has also intensified the rivalry.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 21, 2023

Enrique might have been the next Pelé, but I wasn’t even in the same galaxy as Maradona.

From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023