tournament
Americannoun
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tournaments
plural
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a trial of skill in some game, in which competitors play a series of contests.
a chess tournament.
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a meeting for contests in a variety of sports, as between teams of different nations.
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History/Historical.
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a contest or martial sport in which two opposing parties of mounted and armored combatants fought for a prize, with blunted weapons and in accordance with certain rules.
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a meeting at an appointed time and place for the performance of knightly exercises and sports.
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noun
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a sporting competition in which contestants play a series of games to determine an overall winner
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a meeting for athletic or other sporting contestants
an archery tournament
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medieval history
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(originally) a martial sport or contest in which mounted combatants fought for a prize
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(later) a meeting for knightly sports and exercises
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tournament
1175–1225; Middle English tornement < Old French torneiement, equivalent to torne ( ier ) to tourney + -ment -ment
Explanation
A tournament refers to a gathering of competitors playing a series of games. There are chess tournaments, golf tournaments, tennis tournaments, and a number of tournaments titled “Tournament of Champions.” In medieval times, large groups of knights would gather and compete in a tournament. These tournaments were composed of a number of fighting events. In the melee event, the knights were divided into two teams which would ride at each other with lances, trying to unhorse the opposing knights. There is evidence that weapons were not blunted for these tournaments. Ouch.
Vocabulary lists containing tournament
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English Words Derived from French, List 2
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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:
Chun-Li, played by Liang, recruits the pair to compete with other elite fighters in the World Warrior tournament, organised by crime boss M. Bison.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
World Cup host cities had lofty economic expectations for the summer tournament.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Zheng Qinwen withdrew from her home tournament in Wuhan after becoming the first Chinese player to win the China Open.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Nearby is the Black Desert Resort, which hosts an annual PGA Tour golf tournament.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
After that, both players returned to the tournament hall to watch the conclusions of the other games.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
A keen golfer, Trump wants to renovate the municipal course, which he has described as dilapidated, saying it could eventually host major tournaments.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
This has been a largely disappointing season for Boulter, who is ranked 54th in the world and has posted just two wins across the four Grand Slam tournaments.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
"I think they've probably got maybe four tournaments to have a crack at. The group's in a fantastic place."
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
In baseball, the biggest corporate player is Perfect Game, which puts on nearly 10,000 tournaments, showcases and other events a year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
The ‘magnificences’ she oversaw at the French court had many components, from jousting tournaments and firework displays to water fetes and mock battles.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
