Essential English Vocabulary: Sports, Competition, and Everyday Expressions
Essential English Vocabulary: Definitions and Usage
Expand your English vocabulary with key terms, collocations, and idioms commonly used in sports, competitions, and daily communication. Each entry includes a clear definition and an illustrative example sentence.
General Vocabulary and Idioms
Disappointment: A feeling of unhappiness because something is not as good as you expected, or has not happened in the way you hoped.
e.g., He could see the disappointment in her eyes.
Severe: Severe problems, injuries, illnesses, etc., are very bad or very serious.
e.g., She’s suffering from severe depression.
To cut a long story short: Used to say that you are only going to mention the main facts of something.
e.g., To cut a long story short, he threw them out of the house.
Gain experience: To gradually get more and more of a quality, feeling, etc., especially a useful or valuable one.
Inhabitant: A person or animal that inhabits a place.
e.g., The inhabitants of that remote village never experience crime.
Challenge: Something that tests strength, skill, or ability, especially in a way that is interesting.
Approach: A method of doing something or dealing with a problem.
e.g., A new approach to teaching languages.
Breathtaking: Very impressive, exciting, or surprising.
e.g., The view from my bedroom window was absolutely breathtaking.
Exhilarating: Making you feel happy, excited, and full of energy.
e.g., An exhilarating experience.
In advance: Before something happens or is expected to happen.
e.g., I should warn you in advance that I’m not a very good dancer.
Encounter: To experience something, especially problems or opposition.
e.g., They encountered serious problems when two members of the expedition were injured.
Willing: Prepared to do something, or having no reason to not want to do it.
e.g., How much are they willing to pay?
Favourite: Your favourite person or thing is the one that you like the most.
e.g., What’s your favourite colour?
Leader: The person who directs or controls a group, organization, country, etc.
e.g., He is the leader of the local black community.
Sports and Competition Vocabulary
Adventure Racing: A contest in which teams compete in an expedition-length race which involves two or more sporting disciplines, often running, mountain biking, climbing, kayaking, and elements of navigation and orienteering.
To race: To participate in a competition in which people or animals compete to run, drive, etc., fastest and finish first.
e.g., Over 80 cars will take part in the race.
Referee: Someone who makes sure that the rules of a sport such as football, basketball, or boxing are followed.
e.g., His headmaster agreed to act as his referee.
Opponent: Someone who you try to defeat in a competition, game, fight, or argument.
e.g., Graf’s opponent in today’s final will be Sukova.
Runner-up: The person or team that comes second in a race or competition.
e.g., An overall winner and a runner-up were chosen from the many entries, and their reviews were featured in TeleClub a few weeks ago.
Champion: Someone or something that has won a competition, especially in sport.
Coach: Someone who trains a person or team in a sport.
e.g., The Norwegian national coach.
Umpire: The person who makes sure that the players obey the rules in sports such as tennis, baseball, and cricket.
e.g., Mack was thrown out of the game for hitting an umpire.
Competitor: A person, team, company, etc., that is competing with another.