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Glite Dictionary
World Cup

World Cup

123 1.0
An international soccer tournament held every four years where national teams play to win the world title
  • noun
  • /wɜrld kʌp/
translation icon : Copa del Mundo
  • SPORTSCASTER: We are live in Qatar for the first World Cup held in...
  • the soccer World Cup
  • a World Cup team
  • the World Cup tournament

And I was thinking, I can't remember who won the World Cup that was.

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Examples

  • Winning the World Cup is the ultimate goal for many soccer players around the globe.

  • The first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup almost didn't get the chance.

    Blog text (3)

  • But for this World Cup, they can be your team, too.

  • Would you rather win the World Cup without playing for the team?

  • And I knew at that moment that my World Cup dream was over.

  • If he plays well in the final he could still make the World Cup team for England.

    Goal II: Living the Dream (2007)

  • Messi won his first World Cup, finally.

  • This is now considered the real start of England's World Cup campaign.

    David Beckham: Infamous (2022)

  • The favorites have been knocked out of the World Cup.

    Thirteen Lives (2022)

  • I returned from Bilbao to Paris just as France was winning its first soccer World Cup ever.

    Academic text (1999)

Synonyms

tournament
vsWorld Cup
745 1.8

A sports event where teams or players play several games to decide the winner

is a specific international soccer event held every four years
tourney
vsWorld Cup
  • Informal
12 6.2

A sports competition where players or teams compete to win

is a specific international soccer event held every four years

How Competitive

World Cup
123 1.0
championship
617 2.5
cyclocross
1 8.4
bike race
5 1.7

Surface Forms

World Cup singular
World Cups plural

Morphology

world + cup

The meaning 'an international tournament to determine a world champion' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'world' (global) with 'cup' (a trophy or name for a competition). This compositional pattern is common across languages (e.g., Coupe du Monde, Copa del Mundo) and follows standard noun + noun naming, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

World Cup comes from the image of a Cup meaning 'a trophy' that stands for the whole World, because teams from many countries play for it. That's why World Cup now refers to the big international tournament that decides the 'world champion'.