World Cup

American  

noun

Soccer.

1. a trophy emblematic since 1930 of the world championship in soccer and competed for every four years by finalists who have won qualifying matches among more than 150 national teams.

2. the quadrennial championship match for this trophy between the two finalists emergent from 24 qualifying teams, which include regional winners, the defending champion, and the host country team.

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World Cup British  

noun

1. an international competition held between national teams in various sports, most notably association football

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Compare meaning

How does world-cup compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Super Bowl vs. World Cup

Example Sentences

But it thumped New Zealand 4-0 in one of its final World Cup tuneups and lost to three other World Cup qualifiers — the U.S.,

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026

The buzz: With a goal and an assist in the Americans’ penultimate warm-up with Senegal, Christian Pulisic broke out of a career-long scoring drought and proved himself ready for the World Cup.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026

But its World Cup preparations were disrupted by war in the Middle East, which forced the cancellation of scheduled friendlies with Serbia and Argentina.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026

Paraguay’s schedule over the past year featured several games with World Cup qualifiers, including wins over Mexico and Uruguay, draws with Japan and Ecuador and one-score losses to Brazil, Morocco and the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026

We were at a World Cup competition, and I had heard some talk of going out to a restaurant instead of eating at the hotel.

From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad