Team Definition & Meaning

American

British

Grammar

Usage

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms team American [teem] / tim /

noun

1. a number of persons forming one of the sides in a game or contest.

   a football team.

2. a number of persons associated in some joint action.

   a team of advisers.

3. two or more horses, oxen, or other animals harnessed together to draw a vehicle, plow, or the like.

4. one or more draft animals together with the harness and vehicle drawn.

5. a family of young animals, especially ducks or pigs.

6. Obsolete. offspring or progeny; lineage or stock.

verb (used with object)

1. to join together in a team.

2. Chiefly Northern U.S. Older Use. to convey or transport by means of a team; haul.

verb (used without object)

1. to drive a team.

2. to gather or join in a team, a band, or a cooperative effort (usually followed by up, together, etc.).

   Synonyms: merge, ally, unite, combine

adjective

1. of, relating to, or performed by a team.

   a team sport; team effort.

team British / tiːm /

noun

1. a group of people organized to work together

2. a group of players forming one of the sides in a sporting contest

3. two or more animals working together to pull a vehicle or agricultural implement

4. such animals and the vehicle

   the coachman riding his team

5. dialect a flock, herd, or brood

6. obsolete ancestry

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

1. to make or cause to make a team

   he teamed George with Robert

2. (tr) to drag or transport in or by a team

3. (intr) to drive a team

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Grammar

See collective noun.

Usage

What does team mean? A team is a group of people who work together in a joint action, as in Our Academic Decathlon team was made up of some of the smartest kids in our school.A team is also a group of people on one side of a contest or game, such as a soccer team or a trivia team.A team is also two or more draft animals, such as horses, harnessed together to pull something, like a plow or a cart.To team up is to form a group to work together, as in Miles and Lex teamed up to study for the big science test next month.Example: My team is working hard on these software solutions for streaming platforms.

Other Word Forms

• interteam adjective
• underteamed adjective
• unteamed adjective

Etymology

Origin of team

First recorded before 900; Middle English teme (noun), Old English tēam “child-bearing, brood, offspring, set of draft beasts”; cognate with Dutch toom “bridle, reins,” German Zaum, Old Norse taumr

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

British Curling employs a nutritionist who successfully argued that there is no reason curlers should not approach food in the same way as a Tour de France team.

From BBC

Winning the hard way, getting maximum points from a bare minimum performance, is something that title-winning teams do too.

From BBC

In the first half of the ice dance competition at Milan-Cortina, they performed to their popular Spice Girls mix - but could not match the season-best score they secured in the team event three days earlier.

From BBC

The prime minister wore the smiles of a survivor and his team wore expressions of relief.

From BBC

But they snapped a four-game skid with just their fourth road win of the season, this one against a Knicks team that came in tied for the second-most home wins in the league with 21.

From Barron's

Related Words

• club
• company
• lineup
• organization
• party
• side
• squad
• unit

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.