tournament

tournament — noun

1. a type of competition where players or teams go through several rounds of play,

1.nounB1
Definition

a type of competition where players or teams go through several rounds of play, with every successful competitor advancing to the next stage and facing another winner, until the final round produces one champion

Example

The school chess tournament had thirty-two players competing over two weekends.

collocation: chess tournament / sports tournament

After winning the regional tournament, Sumin's team qualified for the national finals.

pattern: win a tournament; qualify for a tournament

Common collocations
  • tennis tournament
  • golf tournament
  • chess tournament
  • win a tournament
  • enter a tournament
  • host a tournament
  • regional tournament
  • knockout tournament
Synonyms
  • competition

    broader term covering any event where people try to outperform each other

  • championship

    often refers to a final deciding event or a league title, not necessarily a knockout bracket

  • contest

    can be a single event rather than a series of matches

Grammar Patterns

[sport/game] + tournament

tournament + of + [participants]

Usage Note

Frequently used with the name of the sport or game before the word (e.g. golf tournament, chess tournament, poker tournament). Qualifiers such as 'regional', 'national', or 'international' are common.

Common Mistakes

I played in a tournament of tennis.
I played in a tennis tournament.
The sport name comes before 'tournament', not after 'of'.
The tournament was consisted of eight teams.
The tournament consisted of eight teams.
'Consist' does not take 'was'.

2. a public event in medieval times in which knights on horseback fought one anothe

2.nounB2
Definition

a public event in medieval times in which knights on horseback fought one another using lances or swords, intended to display bravery and riding skill before an audience

Example

The king invited knights from three kingdoms to compete in the grand tournament.

collocation: compete in a tournament; grand tournament

At the medieval festival, actors staged a tournament with replica weapons and armour.

pattern: stage a tournament

Common collocations
  • knightly tournament
  • jousting tournament
  • hold a tournament
  • compete in a tournament
  • grand tournament
  • medieval tournament
Synonyms
  • joust

    a single contest between two knights on horseback, narrower in scope than a full tournament

  • jousting tournament

    more specific term for an event centred on jousting

  • medieval contest

    descriptive but less conventional as a compound noun

Grammar Patterns

[verb] + in a tournament

hold + a tournament

Usage Note

Primarily used in historical, fantasy, or period-fiction contexts. The modern equivalent 'joust' or 'jousting tournament' is more specific, describing a single contest between two riders.

Common Mistakes

Knights fought in a tournament using guns.
Knights fought in a tournament using lances and swords.
Medieval tournaments predate firearms.

Word family

  • tourney
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

While all three words describe events where people try to win, a tournament specifically follows a knockout or round-robin format with multiple matches. A competition is the broadest term — it covers anything from a spelling bee to the Olympic Games, and may involve a single event or a series. A championship usually refers to the final deciding match or a league season that crowns a champion, often carrying higher prestige. A contest tends to describe a single event with a clear winner, such as a pie-eating contest or a singing contest. For example, a golfer enters many competitions during the season, wins a few local contests, qualifies for the year-end championship — but only one tournament determines who takes the trophy home.

competition ↗championship ↗contest ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • tournament winner
  • tournament champion
  • tournament final
  • tournament organiser
  • tournament bracket
  • tournament director

Phrases

  • round of a tournament
  • stage of a tournament
  • winner of a tournament
  • host a tournament

Prepositions

  • in a tournament
  • at a tournament
  • during a tournament
  • through the tournament

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Tournament comes from Old French 'torneiement', meaning a contest of knights. This in turn comes from 'torneier' (to joust or tilt), which derives from Latin 'tornare' (to turn in a lathe). The original medieval sense referred to knights turning their horses toward each other in combat. By the 1500s, the word had broadened to describe any competitive event with multiple rounds or stages.