game
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
A playful or competitive activity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
gaymIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡeɪm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A playful or competitive activity.
A playful activity that may be unstructured; an amusement or pastime.
countable
An activity described by a set of rules, especially for the purpose of entertainment, often competitive or having an explicit goal.
The game equipment needed in order to play a particular game
“The child received several games for his birthday.”
countable
The equipment that enables such activity, particularly as packaged under a title.
UKin the plural
A school subject during which sports are practised.
adjective
of an animal
That shows a tendency to continue to fight against another animal, despite being wounded, often severely.
Persistent, especially in senses similar to the above.
of a limb
Injured, lame.
colloquial
Willing and able to participate.
verb
transitive
To exploit loopholes in a system or bureaucracy in a way which defeats or nullifies the spirit of the rules in effect, usually to obtain a result which otherwise would be unobtainable.
intransitive
To gamble.
intransitive
To play card games, board games, or video games.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A playful or competitive activity.
Used this way, game is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. Keep it for friendly, informal settings.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Playful
- Usage feel
- Playful and informal
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use game
- “The child received several games for his birthday.”noun
- “You need four people to play this game.”noun
- “For actors, memorizing lines is no game.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A recreation room for noisy activities (parties or children's play etc).
A television or radio program in which contestants compete for awards.
A theory of competition stated in terms of gains and losses among opposing players.
A person employed to take care of game and wildlife.
Any of several breeds reared for cockfighting.
Any fish providing sport for the angler.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.