team
Americannoun
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a number of persons forming one of the sides in a game or contest.
a football team.
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a number of persons associated in some joint action.
a team of advisers.
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two or more horses, oxen, or other animals harnessed together to draw a vehicle, plow, or the like.
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one or more draft animals together with the harness and vehicle drawn.
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a family of young animals, especially ducks or pigs.
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Obsolete. offspring or progeny; lineage or stock.
verb (used with object)
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to join together in a team.
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Chiefly Northern U.S. Older Use. to convey or transport by means of a team; haul.
verb (used without object)
adjective
noun
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a group of people organized to work together
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a group of players forming one of the sides in a sporting contest
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two or more animals working together to pull a vehicle or agricultural implement
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such animals and the vehicle
the coachman riding his team
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dialect a flock, herd, or brood
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obsolete ancestry
verb
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to make or cause to make a team
he teamed George with Robert
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(tr) to drag or transport in or by a team
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(intr) to drive a team
Grammar
See collective noun.
Usage
What does team mean? A team is a group of people who work together in a joint action, as in Our Academic Decathlon team was made up of some of the smartest kids in our school. A team is also a group of people on one side of a contest or game, such as a soccer team or a trivia team. A team is also two or more draft animals, such as horses, harnessed together to pull something, like a plow or a cart. To team up is to form a group to work together, as in Miles and Lex teamed up to study for the big science test next month. Example: My team is working hard on these software solutions for streaming platforms.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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teamsimple
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teamssimple
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have teamedperfect
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has teamedperfect
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am teamingprogressive
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are teamingprogressive
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is teamingprogressive
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have been teamingperfect progressive
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has been teamingperfect progressive
Past
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teamedsimple
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had teamedperfect
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was teamingprogressive
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were teamingprogressive
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had been teamingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of team
First recorded before 900; Middle English teme (noun), Old English tēam “child-bearing, brood, offspring, set of draft beasts”; cognate with Dutch toom “bridle, reins,” German Zaum, Old Norse taumr
Explanation
If you're part of a frisbee team, you're part of a group of people who cooperate to throw a plastic disc around. It's neat. Two or more of people working together on a single task can be called a team, whether that's an informal team or a professional one. The two horses that pull your carriage are a team, and the guys you play soccer with on Saturday mornings are also a team. Team can also be a verb, meaning "to join forces." If you want to beautify your town, team up with local people to paint a mural for the community.
Vocabulary lists containing team
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.
See Examples For:
The team has brought on Beth Wilkinson, a prominent trial attorney for a legal rematch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
They followed up several times with his team to no avail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas's negotiating team, said the movement was making "concessions for the sake of our people in the Gaza Strip".
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
Season 4 marks a dramatic shift for the show, with Ted returning from Kansas to coach AFC Richmond's second-division women's team, The Lady Greyhounds.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Peter Avakoff and I raced ten hours a day for a week, and on the twenty-fifth of February I boarded the bush plane Mr. Weiss had hired to take me and the team to Anchorage.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
It’s why teams are called clubs and fans are called supporters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
This time of year, bullpen depth is top of mind for teams across MLB, with the trade deadline on Monday approaching.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Cardiff council added highways and cleaning teams had been working on site to clear roads and remove debris where it was safe to do so.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Powerful teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid and Liverpool thought they could exclude the riffraff clubs and create an exclusive, lucrative upper league that would thrill their fans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
There were some teams ahead of me, so the trail was packed hard.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
For the documentary, Davies teamed up with investigative journalist Liam Connell, who has previously infiltrated secretive online networks.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
AJU Continuum teamed up with L.A. architecture and interior design studio Design, Bitches — the group behind the chic Checker Hall in Highland Park and Verve Coffee Roasters in the Arts District.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
This also isn’t the first time Palantir has teamed up with Nvidia, but the announcement comes at a fortuitous time for Palantir investors.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
Anthropic teamed up with California to get more state workers to use its artificial intelligence assistant Claude as part of an effort to leverage technology to make the government more efficient.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
When Ermelo had finally caught on to him, he had come to Haarlem and teamed up with Willemse and Kapteyn.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
These systems, Kamakoti says, rely on "red teaming" - teams that constantly probe systems for weaknesses - and "air-gapped" networks physically isolated from the internet.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
The refreshing sight of the women teaming up against Falstaff never fails to amuse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
And in a sign of how important this race is, CNN is teaming up with a Maine paper, the Bangor Daily News, to host another debate next week.
From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2026
Seacrest transformed the property in 2024, teaming up with architectural designer Silvia Nobili of Nobili Marques Arquitectura to carry out a significant renovation that breathed new life into the space.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
I’d been swim teaming it since I was seven, but I’d come into my own the summer before.
From "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by emily m. danforth
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
