LEAGUE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does league mean? 

• LEAGUE (noun)
  The noun LEAGUE has 3 senses:

1. an association of sports teams that organizes matches for its members

2. an association of states or organizations or individuals for common action

3. an obsolete unit of distance of variable length (usually 3 miles)

  Familiarity information: LEAGUE used as a noun is uncommon.

• LEAGUE (verb)
  The verb LEAGUE has 1 sense:

1. unite to form a league

  Familiarity information: LEAGUE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LEAGUE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An association of sports teams that organizes matches for its members

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

conference; league

Hypernyms ("league" is a kind of...):

association (a formal organization of people or groups of people)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "league"):

big league; major league; majors (the most important league in any sport (especially baseball))

bush league; minor league; minors (a league of teams that do not belong to a major league (especially baseball))

baseball league (a league of baseball teams)

basketball league (a league of basketball teams)

bowling league (a league of bowling teams)

football league (a league of football teams)

hockey league (a league of hockey teams)

Ivy League (a league of universities and colleges in the northeastern United States that have a reputation for scholastic achievement and social prestige)

class; division (a league ranked by quality)

Derivation:

league (unite to form a league)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An association of states or organizations or individuals for common action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("league" is a kind of...):

union (a political unit formed from previously independent people or organizations)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "league"):

Five Nations; Iroquois League; League of Iroquois; Six Nations (a league of Iroquois tribes including originally the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca (the Five Nations); after 1722 they were joined by the Tuscarora (the Six Nations))

Derivation:

league (unite to form a league)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An obsolete unit of distance of variable length (usually 3 miles)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("league" is a kind of...):

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

Meronyms (parts of "league"):

international mile; land mile; mi; mile; stat mi; statute mile (a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; exactly 1609.344 meters)

• LEAGUE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they league    ... he / she / it leagues   
Past simple: leagued   
Past participle: leagued   
-ing form: leaguing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unite to form a league

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "league" is one way to...):

unify; unite (act in concert or unite in a common purpose or belief)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

league (an association of sports teams that organizes matches for its members)

league (an association of states or organizations or individuals for common action)

 Context examples 

The giant, thereupon, carried the man to within about a hundred leagues of the castle, where he left him, saying, “You will be able to walk the remainder of the way yourself.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

They rowed about a league, and then set me down on a strand.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I could rather believe every creature of my acquaintance leagued together to ruin me in his opinion, than believe his nature capable of such cruelty.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

We possessed a house in Geneva, and a campagne on Belrive, the eastern shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than a league from the city.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

If Ushant lay three leagues upon your starboard quarter, what would be your nearest English port?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At such a time I myself might be—nay! if the time ever comes, shall be—leagued with your enemy against you.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Yes; at the distance of a thousand leagues!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There is a double league which makes a fair balance of military power.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As far as you are personally concerned, remarked Holmes, I do not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary league.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Spur on, comrades! for we must cover many a league ere we can venture to light fire or to loosen girth.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)