tournament

American  

[toor-nuh-muhnt, tur-] / ˈtʊər nə mənt, ˈtɜr- /

noun

tournaments plural

1. a trial of skill in some game, in which competitors play a series of contests.

   a chess tournament.

2. a meeting for contests in a variety of sports, as between teams of different nations.

3. History/Historical.

   1. 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.

   2. a meeting at an appointed time and place for the performance of knightly exercises and sports.

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tournament British  

/ ˈtɜː-, ˈtʊənəmənt, ˈtɔː- /

noun

1. a sporting competition in which contestants play a series of games to determine an overall winner

2. a meeting for athletic or other sporting contestants

   an archery tournament

3. medieval history

   1. (originally) a martial sport or contest in which mounted combatants fought for a prize

   2. (later) a meeting for knightly sports and exercises

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pretournament
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tournaments
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tournament tournaments

For the players, the weather means that the tournament likely won’t bear much resemblance to the last time Royal Birkdale hosted.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

He walks for 47% of a match, and he has only covered 631 metres at maximum speed across the tournament.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

But at the end of the day, she said, people need to relax and remember that what’s at stake is just a tournament trophy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

The World Cup is here, on our own soil for the first time — the United States, Canada and Mexico — and Lionel Messi is playing as the defending champion in his sixth tournament.

From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026

What particularly intrigued him, though, was that this tournament would be the qualifying tournament for the Interzonal, which was the beginning of the path to the World Championship.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

But while Ronaldo and Ochoa have gone home, Messi will be playing in his third semifinal in four tournaments Wednesday when Argentina, the reigning champion, faces England at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

New Zealanders have regularly seen their larger neighbours, Australia, outperform them at major tournaments.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

Key stats: England have reached the semi-finals in four major tournaments since 2018 - as many as they reached in their history prior to the 2018 World Cup.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

But he proved on Saturday that he wasn’t done single-handedly turning World Cup matches on his own—he has now bagged eight of his 12 international goals at major tournaments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

“She lives over on Pacific with my auntie, but Saturdays she usually comes here because my cousins have weekend tournaments and stuff. You know how that is.”

From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Related Words

• contest
• event
• fight
• match
• meeting
• series
• sport
• test
• tourney