football

noun

A sport played on foot in which teams attempt to get a ball into a goal or zone defended by the other team.

(UK, Africa, Caribbean, South Asia, uncountable) Association football, also called soccer: a game in which two teams each contend to get a round ball into the other team's goal primarily by kicking the ball.

(US, uncountable) American football: a game played on a field 100 yards long and 53 1/3 yards wide in which two teams of 11 players attempt to get an ovoid ball to the end of each other's territory.

(Canada, uncountable) Canadian football: a game played on a field 110 yards long and 65 yards wide in which two teams of 12 players attempt to get an ovoid ball to the end of each other's territory.

(Australia, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory, southern New South Wales, uncountable) Australian rules football.

(Ireland, uncountable) Gaelic football: a field game played with similar rules to hurling, but using hands and feet rather than a stick, and a ball, similar to, yet smaller than a soccer ball.

(Australia, New Zealand) Any form of rugby.

(chiefly New South Wales, Queensland, uncountable) rugby league.

(other parts of, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, uncountable) rugby union.

(countable) The ball used in any game called "football".

(uncountable) Practice of these particular games, or techniques used in them.

(figuratively, countable) An item of discussion, particularly in a back-and-forth manner

(US military slang, countable) The leather briefcase containing classified nuclear war plans which is always near the US President.

verb

(intransitive, rare) To play football.

Synonyms & related words for football

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Words related to football

Explore words related to football — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include soccer, footy, footie, rugby, rugger, basketball, sports, placekicker. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.