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.

The city’s Estadio Jalisco did previously host one of Brazil’s great teams led by Pelé in 1970.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2025

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

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2025

At Santos, he played alongside Pelé, whom he never hesitated to qualify as the best player among legends.

From Seattle Times • May 5, 2024

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

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