Word.ws English Dictionary

red card

US/ˈɹɛd ˌkɑɹd/

red card noun: a card displayed by the referee when a player is sent off for a serious infringement of the rules.

red card: a card displayed by the referee when a player is sent off for a serious infringement of the rules
Image: Tooby at Italian Wikinews, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

red card (plural red cards)

  1. A card displayed by the referee when a player is sent off for a serious infringement of the rules.
    • In the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Argentine player Diego Maradona was given a red card for striking US player Tab Ramos.
    • An off the ball incident led to N'Zogbia confronting Wilshere before leaning his head into the Englishman and giving referee Lee Probert no choice but to show the red card.2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2 - 2 Arsenal”, in BBC
  2. (colloquial) Any official instructions to vacate an area.
    • I hoped to park in the members' area but the attendant showed me the red card.
  3. (US) A card indicating a firefighter's qualifications and specialties.

red card meaning in Malay, Indonesian, Persian and Vietnamese

red card in Malay

sports: card
kad merah

red card in Indonesian

sports: card
kartu merah

red card in Persian

sports: card
کارت قرمز kârt-e qermez

red card in Vietnamese

sports: card
thẻ đỏ

Forms of red card

pluralred cards

Words formed from red card

Questions about red card

What does red card mean?
Red card means a card displayed by the referee when a player is sent off for a serious infringement of the rules.
What is red card in Malay?
Red card in Malay is kad merah. See Red card meaning in Malay.
What part of speech is red card?
Red card is a noun.
How do you pronounce red card?
Red card is pronounced /ˈɹɛd ˌkɑɹd/ (US).
What is the plural of red card?
The plural of red card is red cards.

Words near red card in the dictionary

  1. red candle
  2. red candles
  3. red cap
  4. red caps
  5. red car
  6. red card
  7. red cardinal
  8. red cardinal flower
  9. red cardinal flowers
  10. red cardinals
  11. red cards

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: red card (page history and authors). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-red card.wav.

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