league
Pluralleagues
Pluralleagues
Formsleagues, leaguing, leagued
- 1An organized body of sports teams that compete against one another over a season to determine a champion.
The league announced a new schedule for the upcoming season.
Several teams joined the regional baseball league this year.
UsageTeams play in a league. It takes a capital in names such as the National Football League.
- 2A level of quality or ability shared by people or things that are roughly equal to one another.
As a chess player, she is simply in a league of her own.
His skills put him in the same league as the top professionals.
UsageUsually in set phrases: out of someone's league, in the same league as, in a different league from, in a league of one's own.
- 3A group of people, organizations, or nations that join together to work for a shared purpose or common cause.
A league of small business owners pooled their money to fund the project.
She joined a league dedicated to improving public libraries.
UsageOften a league of people or nations; people form or join a league.
Note
Behind the grouping senses lies a word for binding. Middle English liege, a pact between governments, came through French ligue and Italian lega from Latin ligō, 'I tie', so a league's members are, at root, tied together. In John Denham's 1668 line 'no league, nor amity' it still names the pact itself, not the people in it. The league of distance is an unrelated word that shares the spelling.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- The alliance word descends from Middle English liege, meaning a pact or alliance, through French ligue and Italian lega to Latin ligō. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin ligō means 'I tie'; the binding explanation reflects the word's etymology. en.wiktionary.org
- Denham's relevant translation appeared in 1668. celm.folger.edu
- The quoted words occur in Denham's poem, where league means a pact between peoples. gutenberg.org
- The distance word has a separate origin. en.wikipedia.org
- 4Of a team or player, competing in the Football League or Premier League, England's top four divisions of professional soccer.
When the little Yorkshire club won promotion from the National League, it became a league side for the first time in its history.
She supported a league team that had spent decades in the lower divisions.
UsageUsually before a noun: a league club, a league side. Clubs below these divisions are non-league.
Oppositenon-league
Note
It marks membership of English football's top four divisions, Premier League included. It is a word of status, not a judgment of how well a team plays.
- 5Short for rugby league, a form of rugby football played between teams of thirteen players.
She prefers league to union because the game flows faster.
Most of the players grew up playing league in country towns.
UsageUsually without a or the, like football: people play league or watch league.
Less common meanings
- 6A unit of distance, commonly about three English miles, that may originally have represented the distance a person could walk in an hour.
The old map marked the well a single league north of the river.
Sailors reported land lying three leagues to the west.
Note
A different word from the 'alliance' league. It comes through Late Latin leuca, the Gaulish mile, from a Celtic root, and is a doublet of legua. The exact length could vary, which is why Malory in 1485 has his knights ride 'four leagues English'. Distances by river and by sea were reckoned in it, and Tennyson's Light Brigade rides 'half a league onward' into the valley of Death.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 8 facts
- The distance word has a separate etymology through Late Latin leuca or leuga, meaning the Gaulish mile, ultimately from Celtic. en.wiktionary.org
- League is a doublet of legua. en.wiktionary.org
- The length of a league varied between countries. en.wikipedia.org
- Malory's work was first published in 1485. en.wikipedia.org
- Malory describes King Mark and Sir Dinadan riding four English leagues; the quotation uses modernized spelling. gutenberg.org
- River distances were measured in leagues. gutenberg.org
- Sea distances were measured in leagues. gutenberg.org
- Tennyson's The Charge of the Light Brigade describes the brigade riding 'half a league onward' into the valley of Death. rpo.library.utoronto.ca
- 7To unite with others in a league or alliance, combining for mutual support.
The provinces agreed to league with one another for defense.
Merchants leagued together to fix prices across the city.
UsageMost often in the past form, followed by with or together: leagued with someone, leagued together against a rival.
Similarally, unite, band, join, combine
Note
Milton writes 'that name best befits thee with him leagu'd' in Paradise Lost, and Bentley's Miscellany of 1845 says the Bohemians and great folks of Paris are 'so leagued together' that they fear one another. Both lines carry an undertone of sides taken: to be leagued with someone often means standing with them against somebody else.
- 8A marker stone set up beside a public road to indicate the distance of a league.
- 9A prefecture-level administrative division used in Inner Mongolia, China, ranking alongside a prefecture or prefecture-level city.
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Origins
It comes from Middle English "liege" (a pact or alliance between governments), which came through Middle French "ligue" and Italian "lega" from the verb "legare," from Latin "ligo" ("I tie").
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- League derives from Middle English liege, meaning a pact or alliance between governments, through Middle French ligue and Italian lega. en.wiktionary.org
- Italian lega derives from the verb legare, ultimately from Latin ligō. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin ligō is the first-person singular present form meaning I tie. en.wiktionary.org
It comes from Middle English "lege," from Late Latin "leuca" or "leuga" (the Gaulish mile), from Gaulish and Proto-Celtic *lougā. It is a doublet of "legua."
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- League, the distance unit, derives from Middle English lege and Late Latin leuca or leuga, meaning the Gaulish mile. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin forms derive from Gaulish and ultimately reconstructed Proto-Celtic *lougā. en.wiktionary.org
- League is an etymological doublet of English legua. en.wiktionary.org