red card

American

noun

Soccer. a red card shown by the referee to a player being sent off the field for a flagrant violation.

red card British

noun

a card of a red colour displayed by a referee to indicate that a player has been sent off

"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

verb

(tr) to send off (a player)

"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

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red card

In 1998, he received a red card for kicking out at Argentina’s Diego Simeone in a game so tense that it had to be decided by a penalty shootout.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

But he also received a straight red card for stomping on the ankle of Bosnian center back Tarik Muharemović, meaning the top-scoring American player would have to miss the next game.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

He was not involved though when England took on Argentina in a friendly in Geneva as he was serving a suspension after a red card only 30 seconds into his international debut.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

If VAR had been available, Scottish referee Hugh Dallas could have corrected the missed call, awarding a penalty and giving Frings a red card, expelling him for the final 40 minutes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

“In soccer you get shown the red card and you’re out of the game!”

From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling

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