football

Pluralfootballs (some meanings)

Formsfootballs, footballing, footballed

1. 1
   American gamenounUSuncountable

   A game played by two teams of eleven on a 100-yard field, each trying to advance an ovoid ball into the opponent's end zone.

   The college football season culminates in a series of bowl games.

   Professional football in the United States draws enormous television audiences.

   UsageFor readers abroad, say American football, since elsewhere football usually means the round-ball game.

   Similargridiron

   Note

   In the United States, football on its own usually means this game, while the round-ball game is usually called soccer.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Any of several team sports in which players try to move a ball into a goal or scoring area defended by the other team; also, the way such a sport is played.

   Whether it means soccer, rugby or the American game, football draws huge crowds wherever it is played.

   Different regions developed their own versions of football over the centuries.

   Note

   The umbrella sense, covering every code from soccer to the Gaelic game. Middle English spelled it fotbal or footbal, and the compound may point two ways: a ball struck with the foot, or a game played on foot rather than on horseback. Either reading suits the rough medieval matches from which the modern codes grew. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Middle English forms included fotbal and footbal. en.wiktionary.org
   • The name may refer to moving the ball with the foot. en.wiktionary.org
   • An alternative proposed etymology refers to playing on foot rather than on horseback. en.wikipedia.org
   • Rough medieval football games were ancestors of modern football codes. en.wikipedia.org
3. 3
   nounAfricaCaribbeanSouth AsiaUKuncountable

   A game in which two teams each try to get a round ball into the opposing team's goal, primarily by kicking it.

   Across Europe, football fills stadiums every weekend.

   The club has dominated English football for over a decade.

   UsageYou play football, with no article (not incorrect: play the football); a football is the ball.

   Similarsoccer

   Note

   In the UK, Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia, football on its own means the round-ball game. North Americans call it soccer, so the same sentence can name two different sports on either side of the Atlantic. Association football is the full, unambiguous name.

4. 4
   ballnouncountable

   The ball used in any of the games that go by the name football.

   The referee inspected each football before kickoff.

   A well-worn football sat in the corner of the locker room.

   Note

   Which shape you picture depends on where you stand. In Britain the ball is round, the one UK football authorities moved in 2020 to keep primary-school children from heading in training. In the United States it is the ovoid ball of the American game, the kind at the center of a 2015 NFL inquiry into the New England Patriots. The plural is footballs, and the word covers both shapes. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The association-football ball used in Britain is round. theifab.com
   • On 24 February 2020, the English, Scottish and Northern Irish associations announced guidance removing heading from primary-school children's training. It did not prohibit heading by all children or change heading in matches. thefa.com
   • The American-football ball is ovoid. en.wikipedia.org
   • Footballs used by the New England Patriots were the subject of an NFL inquiry in 2015. amp.nfl.com
5. 5
   Canadian gamenounCanadauncountable

   A game played by two teams of twelve on a 110-yard field, each trying to move an ovoid ball into the opposing team's end zone.

   The Grey Cup is the championship game of Canadian football.

   Football in Canada differs from the American game in several key rules.

   UsageFor readers abroad, write Canadian football; at home, plain football is enough.

   Note

   Canada keeps the word for its own version of the game. It is close kin to the American code but is played on a bigger field, ten yards longer and nearly twelve yards wider at 65, with twelve players a side instead of eleven.

6. 6
   Australian rulesnounAustraliauncountable

   A fast-paced Australian code played on a large oval ground, with two teams of eighteen kicking or handballing an ovoid ball to score between goalposts.

   The AFL grand final is the highlight of the football calendar in Australia.

   Football dominates sports coverage across Victoria each winter.

   UsageFor readers elsewhere, say Australian rules football; in the southern and western states, plain football is enough.

   Similarfooty

   Note

   Across Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and southern New South Wales, football means the Australian rules game, and sports pages speak of an AFL football chief. Farther north in New South Wales and in Queensland, the same word is likely to mean rugby league. An Australian's "football" can tell you roughly where they come from.

7. 7
   Gaelic gamenounIrelanduncountable

   A field game popular in Ireland, played by two teams with rules similar to hurling but using the hands and feet instead of a stick, with a round ball.

   Croke Park fills to capacity for the biggest football matches of the season.

   Football and hurling share many of the same skills and traditions.

   UsageFor readers elsewhere, say Gaelic football; at home, context usually tells it apart from soccer.

   Note

   Ireland's own football is close kin to hurling, with hands and feet doing the work a stick does there. In Ireland the bare word can name this game, so a football match there need not mean soccer, and context usually settles which is meant.

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