Word.ws English Dictionary

league

/liːɡ/

league noun: a group or association of cooperating members. Also the ellipsis of rugby league.

Noun (1)

league (countable and uncountable, plural leagues)

  1. A group or association of cooperating members.
    • the League of Nations
    • And let there be / 'Twixt us and them no league, nor amity.1668, John Denham, The Passion of Dido for Aeneas
  2. An organization of sports teams which play against one another for a championship.
    • My favorite sports organizations are the National Football League and the American League in baseball.
    • He loved watching cricket leagues all around the world.
  3. A class or type of people or things that are evenly matched or on the same level.
    • Forget about dating him; he's out of your league.
    • We're not even in the same league.
  4. A prefecture-level administrative unit in Inner Mongolia (Chinese: 盟).
  5. An alliance or coalition.

Verb

league (third-person singular simple present leagues, present participle leaguing, simple past and past participle leagued)

  1. (ambitransitive) To form an association; to unite in a league or confederacy; to combine for mutual support.
    • Out of my sight, thou Serpent, that name best Befits thee with him leagu'd.1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    • I believe that all the Bohemians and the great folks in Paris are so leagued together, that they are afraid of one another, and the people receive all the buffets of their disagreeings.1845, Bentley's Miscellany, volume 18, page 7

Adjective

league (not comparable)

  1. (UK) Playing in the The Football League or the Premier League, the top four divisions of English football

Noun (2)

league (plural leagues)

  1. (obsolete, measurement) A unit of itinerary distance varying with country, in Britain commonly about three statute miles (or five kilometres). Perhaps representing an hour's walking.
    • Thenne kynge Mark and sir Dynadan rode forth a four leges englysshe tyl that they came to a brydge where houed a knyght on horsbak armed and redy to Iuste.
      "Then King Mark and Sir Dinadan rode forth a four leagues English, till that they came to a bridge where hoved a knight on horseback, armed and...1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book X, Chapter 10
    • Seven leagues above the mouth of the river we meet with two other passes, as large as the middle one by which we entered.1751-1753, Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz, History of Louisiana (PG), p. 47
    1. (obsolete, measurement) Three nautical miles.
  2. A stone erected near a public road to mark the distance of a league.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: League

League (plural Leagues)

  1. A surname.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: League

the League

  1. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of League of Nations.
    • The League was hampered by the U.S.'s refusal to join and its member states' unwillingness to impose sanctions on foreign countries.

Also used as

league is also the ellipsis of rugby league.

league meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

league in Hindi

a group or association of cooperating members
संघ saṅgh, संगठन saṅgṭhan
organization of sports teams
लीग līg

league in Tamil

லீக், லீக்கம்

league in Marathi

लीग, लीगला

league in Urdu

organization of sports teams
لِیگ līg
More languagesFewer languages
league in Bengali
লিগ lig
league in Telugu
లీగ్, లీగు, లీగింగ్
league in Malayalam
ലീഗ്, ലീഗിംഗ്
league in Kannada
ಲೀಗ್
league in Punjabi
ਲੀਗ, ਲੀਗਿੰਗ
league in Gujarati
લીગ, લીગે
league in Odia
ଲିଗ୍, ଲିଗ
league in Nepali
लिग, लीग, लीगिङ
league in Tagalog
liga
league in Arabic
عُصْبَة ʕuṣba, اِتِّحَاد ittiḥād, اِتِّفَاق ittifāq, دَوْرِيّ dawriyy
league in Malay
liga
league in Indonesian
liga
league in Persian
فرسخ farsax
league in Thai
พันธมิตร pan-tá-mít, สมาพันธ์ sà-maa-pan, ลีก lîik
league in Vietnamese
hội, đồng minh, liên minh, liên đoàn

Examples of league in a sentence

  • Half a league, half a league, / Half a league onward, / All in the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred.1855, Alfred Tennyson, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza 1, page 151:
  • Before him, trackless wilderness extended for many leagues before lapping against the outbuildings of some village.2008, Christopher Paolini, “Rider and Ra'zac”, in Brisingr, page 70:

All 40 example sentences with league

Antonyms of league

Forms of league

Noun
pluralleagues
alternative form (obsolete)leag
Verb
third-person singular presentleagues
present participleleaguing
past participleleagued
pastleagued
Proper noun
pluralLeagues

Plural of league: leagues

Origin of league

From Middle English liege, ligg, lige (“a pact between governments, an agreement, alliance”), from Middle French ligue, from Italian lega, from the verb legare, from Latin ligō (“to tie”).

From Middle English lege (“league”), from Late Latin leuca, leuga (“the Gaulish mile”), from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *lougā (compare Middle Breton leau, lew, Breton lev / leo (“league”)). Doublet of legua.

English surname, perhaps a spelling variant of Leake.

Words formed from league

Phrases with league

15 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with league

Questions about league

What does league mean?
League means a group or association of cooperating members.
What is league in Hindi?
League in Hindi is संघ (saṅgh), संगठन (saṅgṭhan), लीग (līg). See League meaning in Hindi.
How do you use league in a sentence?
Half a league, half a league, / Half a league onward, / All in the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred.
What part of speech is league?
League can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce league?
League is pronounced /liːɡ/.
What is the plural of league?
The plural of league is leagues.

Words near league in the dictionary

  1. leafyness
  2. leag
  3. Leaghur
  4. Leagrave
  5. leags
  6. league
  7. League 1
  8. League 2
  9. League Championship Series
  10. League City
  11. league cup

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: league (page history and authors); League (page history and authors); league (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); league (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); league (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); league (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); league (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); league (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); league (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); league (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); league (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-league.ogg.

Cite this entry: “league.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/league. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.