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major-league team

major-league team

4 3.2
A team that plays at the highest professional level in a sport
  • noun
  • /ˈmeɪdʒər liɡ tim/
translation icon : equipo de las grandes ligas
  • In the contest to attract a major-league team to the Bay Area, the spirit of boosterism and media attention there turned from mass transit to baseball.
  • 28 major-league teams
  • players on major-league teams
  • major-league team's 40-man roster

Examples

  • The major league team has steadily improved the last two years, regardless of collapses.

    Blog text (33)
  • The Sox will be facing the Rays, who have a 3.24 ERA, the lowest among 30 major league teams.

    Blog text (26)
  • Played a major league team in a major league stadium.

  • Representatives from every major league team are coming here tomorrow to watch us play.

  • Every major league team has a history of big hits and major misses in the June free agent draft.

    Blog text (18)
  • That year, a black player named Jackie Robinson was signed to a white major-league team.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • In 1987, Skeels was the first-ever Kiwi drafted by a major league team.

    Blog text (14)
  • Prior to that, there were no major league teams west of St. Louis—the Dodgers and Giants were about to change that.

    Blog text (28)
  • Representatives from every major-league team are coming here tomorrow to watch us play.

  • He's got scouts from six different major-league teams looking at him.

Synonyms

major-league club
vsmajor-league team
  • US
1 3.1

A team that plays in the top professional sports league, like baseball

describes the group of players competing in the highest professional division

How Professional

major-league team
4 3.2
semipro
  • Informal
4.4

Surface Forms

Morphology

major-league + team

The meaning 'a team that competes in the highest professional division' is directly derivable from combining 'major' (important/high-level) and 'league' (a division or competition); the compound 'major league' transparently signals the top level. This compositional pattern is common in English and in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would likely understand it.

Etymology

Major-league team comes from the image of sports leagues in levels: the word major points to the biggest, top group and league is the group of teams, so a team in that group plays at the highest level. So, a major-league team means 'a team that plays in the top professional division'.