tournament

noun

tour·​na·​ment
ˈtu̇r-nə-mənt,
 also  ˈtər-,
or
ˈtȯr- How to pronounce tournament (audio)
1
: a series of games or contests that make up a single unit of competition (as on a professional golf tour), the championship playoffs of a league or conference, or an invitational event
2
a
: a knightly sport of the Middle Ages between mounted combatants armed with blunted lances or swords and divided into two parties contesting for a prize or favor bestowed by the lady of the tournament
b
: the whole series of knightly sports, jousts, and tilts occurring at one time and place

Examples of tournament in a Sentence

She's an excellent tennis player who has won many tournaments. a golf tournament in which professionals compete against amateurs
Recent Examples on the Web Koltsov regularly traveled to tennis tournaments around the world with Sabalenka, who won her second grand slam title at the Australian Open earlier this year. Rebekah Riess, CNN, 19 Mar. 2024 This year after the month- long tournament, 10 players will be invited to battle it out at the live final in Los Angeles. Jennifer Maas, Variety, 19 Mar. 2024 Even that tournament would have required some creative guessing. USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2024 That includes three in the AAC tournament, all by double digits, capped by 85-69 against Temple in Sunday’s championship game. Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Mar. 2024 The Pac-12 tournament champions earned the top seed in the Portland Regional 3 bracket and will host No. 16 seed Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the first round at Galen Center on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. PDT (ESPN). Thuc Nhi Nguyen, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2024 Watch the basketball tournament, enjoy bourbon, special menus and entertainment. Luann Gibbs, The Enquirer, 17 Mar. 2024 Stanford won the final Pac-12 regular season by two games over eventual No. 1 seed USC and fellow No. 2 UCLA, but lost in the Pac-12 tournament final to the Trojans. Harold Gutmann, The Mercury News, 17 Mar. 2024 His goal is to help the park become a hub for national basketball tournaments. Maritza Dominguez, The Arizona Republic, 15 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tournament.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English tornement, from Anglo-French turneiement, from turneier

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Time Traveler
The first known use of tournament was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near tournament

Cite this Entry

“Tournament.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tournament. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

tournament

noun
tour·​na·​ment ˈtu̇r-nə-mənt How to pronounce tournament (audio)
 also  ˈtər-,
 or  ˈtȯr-
1
: a contest of skill and courage between knights wearing armor and fighting with blunted lances or swords
2
: a contest or series of contests played for a championship

More from Merriam-Webster on tournament

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!