HOW TO PRONOUNCE
football
/ˈfʊtˌbɔl/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does football mean?
noun
- A sport played on foot in which teams attempt to get a ball into a goal or zone defended by the other team.
- The ball used in any game called "football".
- 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.
More meanings (11)
noun
- 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.
- 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.
- Australian rules football.
- 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.
- Any form of rugby.
- rugby league.
- rugby union.
- Practice of these particular games, or techniques used in them.
- (figuratively) An item of discussion, particularly in a back-and-forth manner
- (slang) The leather briefcase containing classified nuclear war plans which is always near the US President.
verb
- (rare) To play football.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈfʊtˌbɔl/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
He was sixteen, his chestnut curls had given place to close-cropped brown locks, and he was more interested in football than fairies.
Altogether it was an exhausting pastime--fully equal to the American game of football and only the young athlete could really enjoy it.
More book examples (3)
Runs with the dogs and vigorous games of hockey and football on the rough snow-covered floe kept all hands in good fettle.
They worked with furious intensity, literally upon the run—at a pace with which there is nothing to be compared except a football game.
His literary and artistic accomplishments I suspect a bit, but he rides and shoots and plays golf and football and sails a boat.