football

The word “football” means a sport where two teams try to score by getting a ball into a goal, especially soccer in most of the world or American football in the US. In plain terms, a team sport played with a ball, or figuratively, a contentious issue nobody wants to fully own.

“Football” is pronounced FUUT-bawl (/ˈfʊt.bɔl/ in IPA).

Here is “football” used in a sentence: “The whole town gathered to watch the football match.”

Words with a similar meaning to “football” include association football, soccer, soccer football, footy, footie and footer.

“Football” is a noun.

The word “football” comes from Middle English. From Middle English fotbal, "foot" + "ball," since the ball was originally moved mainly with the feet.

“Football” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Football” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a sport where two teams try to score by getting a ball into a goal, especially soccer in most of the world or American football in the US.

They usually name the same sport. In most of the world, 'football' means the game played mainly with the feet, kicking a round ball into a goal. In the United States and Canada, that game is called 'soccer,' while 'football' refers to American football. Context and country decide which sport is meant.

'Soccer' actually comes from Britain. The sport's full name is 'association football,' and nineteenth-century students shortened 'association' to 'assoc,' then to 'soccer.' Americans adopted this nickname to distinguish the game from American football. So the word many think is American originated in England, even though Britain now mostly says 'football.'

Several sports share the name. Association football (soccer) is the global game. American football and Canadian football feature an oval ball and heavy tackling. Rugby football splits into union and league, and there's also Australian rules football and Gaelic football. All descend from old ball-and-goal games but follow very different rules.

Yes, association football, or soccer, is widely considered the world's most popular sport, with billions of fans across every continent. Its showpiece, the FIFA World Cup, draws enormous global audiences. American football, by contrast, is hugely popular within the United States but followed far less elsewhere.