How to use derby in a sentence

20 example sentences · noun

Derby means any of several annual horse races. Example: “Scoring the matchwinning goal in the county soccer derby made him the town's hero.”

Examples of derby by meaning

nounAny organized race.

a donkey derby

nounA bowler hat.

That was successful, for he struck her nose with the brim of his derby and she opened her eyes.1906, O. Henry, The Green Door

nounA local derby.

Defeat sees Forest remain a point outside the top six with a derby against Leicester up next.2011 April 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Norwich 2 - 1 Nott'm Forest”, in BBC Sport

More sentences with derby

Scoring the matchwinning goal in the county soccer derby made him the town's hero.From the entry matchwinning
Peterbough United have been playing at Lincoln, in something of a local derby.2024 April 17, “Rural railways: do they deliver?”, in RAIL, number 1007, page 58. From the entry put on
An elfette wearing thigh garters and a derby and not much else took my order.1988, Raymond H. Ring, Telluride Smile, page 74. From the entry elfette
Competition already is so keen that the great diaper derby already lists one big casualty.1970 December 15, “The Great Diaper Rash”, in James W. Michaels, editor, Forbes, volume 106, number 12, page 30. From the entry diaperman
Chelsea had two players sent off and lost out to a Heidar Helguson penalty in a heated west London derby.2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1 - 0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport. From the entry lose out
He too was a young man in a suit and tie with a derby upon his head .2007, Joanna Melville, Everything was Ragtime: A View of the Costume Design Process, page 139. From the entry suit and tie
Finish with the derby pie, which is this vaguely pecan-pie-like substance that is more chocolate-chippy in the middle and less cloying.2004 April 4, Dayton Daily News, page K4. From the entry chocolate-chippy
For daytime, a derby or homburg might be worn.1982, Shirley Miles O′Donnol, American Costume, 1915-1970: A Source Book for the Stage Costumer, published 1989, page 182. From the entry homburg
Chief event of the "Mudeo" is a tire derby in which rival classmen battle to carry tires across others' goal line.1938 December 5, Life, volume 5, number 23, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 83. From the entry mudeo
Troll fights every Saturday, centaur roller derby Tuesday nights, zombie paintball every second Friday, unicorn jousting at Christmas and a dragonriding tournament in June.2017 October 10, Jessica Townsend, “Welcome to Nevermoor”, in Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, Sydney, N.S.W.: Lothian, Hachette…. From the entry dragonriding
But some of these battle-ax beauties have seen more action than a roller derby queen: They bear the gashes and sweat stains to prove it.2013, Kiley Armstrong, “"108 Rock Star Guitars" reveals battle-ax beauty”, in Associated Press. From the entry battle axe
Men's roller derby, known as "merby", is an emerging version of the ladies' roller derby, which has taken south-east Queensland by storm in recent years.2011 August 21, Ellen Lutton, Sydney Morning Herald. From the entry merby
The Sky Sports pundit savaged Shaw following United's embarrassing 3-0 Manchester derby defeat, claiming the left-back had been "stealing a living" at Old Trafford for years.2025 September 21, Roy Keane, quotee, “Luke Shaw reacts to Roy Keane's 'stealing a living' remarks after horror defeat”, in Irish Mirror. From the entry steal a living
That was partly because of a swirling wind that made precision passing difficult and also a derby atmosphere where the emphasis seemed to be on passion rather than football.2011 January 16, Saj Chowdhury, “Sunderland 1 – 1 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 07 Dec 2019. From the entry passion
These are the accepted truths to all who encountered or knew of the princely dressed first sacker, whose three-piece suits and brown velvet derby defined him.2006, Thomas Porky McDonald, “Beyond the Plate”, in Never These Men: One Man’s Look at Baseball’s Creatively Cultured Figures…. From the entry princely
They had seized the tan derby of one of their number; three others in sharp suits and silk waistcoats were tossing it around in a wild game of salugi.1956, Gerald Green, The Last Angry Man, page 193. From the entry salugi
It is quite curious that the names for items of clothing display so many Pondian differences: trousers, pants, shorts, braces, suspenders, vest, cardigan, sweater, bowler hat, derby hat, etc., etc.2007 September 24, Mike M, “OT: Neckties - Ping Draney”, in alt.usage.english (Usenet), archived from the original on 07 Dec 2025. From the entry pondian

Meaning of derby

noun Any of several annual horse races.
noun Any organized race.
noun A bowler hat.

Full definition of derby

Questions about derby in a sentence

How do you use derby in a sentence?: Derby is used as a noun. For example: “Scoring the matchwinning goal in the county soccer derby made him the town's hero.”
What is a short sentence with derby?: “a donkey derby”
What does derby mean?: Derby means any of several annual horse races.

Adapted from Wiktionary: derby (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use derby in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/derby. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.