championship
Pluralchampionships
- 1A contest whose winner becomes champion, often held as the last stage in a series of competitions.
Sixteen teams from across the state will take part in the championship, which starts next weekend and ends with a final in the capital.
Organizers moved the regional championships to a larger venue this summer.
UsageIn the plural, the championships often means one big meet and takes a plural verb: the championships begin Friday.
Similartournament, competition, contest
- 2The status or title held by a champion or winner.
He defended his championship against a much younger challenger.
The championship passed to a new fighter after the stunning upset.
UsageUsually with verbs like hold, defend or lose: he defended his championship.
Note
Here the suffix does the job it does in kingship or lordship. Champion plus -ship names the standing a champion holds, not the contest that decides it.
- 3Active support or defense of a cause, idea, or group.
The senator's championship of clean energy shaped the new law.
Over the years, the founder's quiet championship of children in foster care won her admirers across the country.
UsageUsually with a possessive and of: her championship of equal rights.
Similarsupport, advocacy, promotion, defense
Oppositeopposition
Note
Here the champion takes up a cause instead of winning a title. Like support, it can be begun, kept up or given up, and George Orwell in 1945 shows it withdrawn: "They had also dropped their championship of Jones." It belongs to written, rather formal English.
Practice
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Origin
Formed from "champion" combined with the suffix "-ship".
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Championship is formed from champion and the suffix -ship. en.wiktionary.org