World Series

or World's Series

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noun Baseball.

an annual series of games between the winning teams of the two major leagues: the first team to win four games being champions of the U.S.

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Origin of World Series

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90

Words nearby World Series

world power, world premiere, world process, world-renowned, World Savior, World Series, world's fair, world-shaker, world-shaking, world's oldest profession, world soul

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

MORE ABOUT WORLD SERIES

What is the World Series?

The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB).

It’s a best-of-seven series between the champions of the National League and the American League.

Despite its name, the World Series is not a worldwide competition—it only ever features MLB teams (all of which are located in either the United States or Canada).

The trophy awarded to the winner of the World Series is known as the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Because the World Series typically happens in the fall, it is sometimes called the Fall Classic.

The name World Series is also used in the names of other baseball events, notably the College World Series and the Little League World Series. It’s also used in the names of other competitive events, such as the World Series of Poker.

When is the World Series?

The World Series usually begins in October, often ending in November.

More information and context on the World Series

In the early 1900s, the American League and National League operated as two separate entities. In 1903, the championship-winning teams from both sides competed in a best-of-nine series to determine a “world champion.” The event was initially named the World’s Championship Series. It was renamed the World Series in 1905.

What are some terms that often get used in discussing the World Series?

How is World Series discussed in real life?

The World Series is one of the most popular and well-known championship events in professional sports. Winning the World Series is considered the pinnacle of professional baseball in the US and Canada.

It happened: @Cubs win World Series. That's change even this South Sider can believe in. Want to come to the White House before I leave?

— President Obama (@POTUS44) November 3, 2016

Canada…we need a World Series soon. I promise to do everything in my power to make that happen! #TO 🇨🇦

— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) November 2, 2017

So excited to sing the National Anthem at game 4 of the World Series tonight!!!!!

— Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) October 28, 2012

Try using World Series!

True or False?

Only teams from the US and Canada have ever competed in the World Series.

How to use World Series in a sentence

The San Diego Padres had to do something to improve their World Series odds leading into Monday’s Major League Baseball trade deadline.
The Padres Are Going For It|Travis Sawchik|September 2, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
Capping it all off with a World Series victory, Betts had a year for the ages — the kind which most great players can really expect to have just once, if they have one at all.
Mookie Betts Is Playing Like An MVP — And The Dodgers Have Needed It|Neil Paine (neil.paine@fivethirtyeight.com)|August 20, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
It might be hiding World Series talent that would have come out if only the season had been longer.
Bad Teams May Be Posing As Good Teams In A 60-Game Baseball Season|Neil Paine (neil.paine@fivethirtyeight.com)|August 7, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
When they started the year 14-5, hopes were high the team could reclaim its World Series form of just a few seasons earlier.
Bad Teams May Be Posing As Good Teams In A 60-Game Baseball Season|Neil Paine (neil.paine@fivethirtyeight.com)|August 7, 2020|FiveThirtyEight

Although the overall effect wasn’t enough to keep the Dodgers, Yankees and Astros from staying World Series favorites, their odds have dropped by a not-insignificant amount.
The Winners And Losers In MLB’s New Playoff Format|Neil Paine (neil.paine@fivethirtyeight.com)|July 24, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
Jones is a veteran of another beloved-yet-controversial animated series on Adult Swim, The Boondocks.
‘Black Dynamite’ Presents Police Brutality: The Musical|Stereo Williams|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The world that Black Dynamite lives in is not the most PC place to be in.
‘Black Dynamite’ Presents Police Brutality: The Musical|Stereo Williams|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Music is a huge part of the tone of Black Dynamite overall—going back to the original 2009 movie on which the series is based.
‘Black Dynamite’ Presents Police Brutality: The Musical|Stereo Williams|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Have a look at this telling research from Pew on blasphemy and apostasy laws around the world.
In Defense of Blasphemy|Michael Tomasky|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Allegations of transphobia are not new in the world of gay online dating.
Grindr’s Trans Dating Problem|David Levesley|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Descending the Alps to the east or south into Piedmont, a new world lies around and before you.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
All over the world the just claims of organized labor are intermingled with the underground conspiracy of social revolution.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
There seems something in that also which I could spare only very reluctantly from a new Bible in the world.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
That it is a reasonable and proper thing to ask our statesmen and politicians: what is going to happen to the world?
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
The "new world" was really found in the wonder-years of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock

British Dictionary definitions for World Series

World Series

World's Series

noun

baseball (in the US and Canada) a best-of-seven playoff for the world championship between the two winning teams in the major leagues at the end of the season

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

Cultural definitions for World Series

World Series

A series of baseball games held each October between the champions of the two major baseball leagues, the American League and the National League.