Meaning & use
sporting event
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Meanings
nouncountable
an organized occasion, such as a match, race, or tournament, at which people compete in a sport.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a sporting event' or 'two sporting events'; the plural is 'sporting events'.
Patterns
- a sporting event takes place
- hold/stage a sporting event
- attend a sporting event
The city will host a major sporting event next summer.
Thousands of fans traveled to the stadium for the sporting event.
Bad weather forced the organizers to cancel the sporting event.
nouncountable
any occasion in which sport is played or watched, including local games and school competitions.
Grammar: Also countable, and often used in the plural when talking generally about such occasions.
Patterns
- sporting events are held somewhere
- a calendar of sporting events
- watch sporting events on television
She covers sporting events for a local newspaper.
The town holds sporting events throughout the year to raise money for charity.
Word forms
| plural | sporting events |
|---|
Common combinations
- host a sporting event
- The country will host a sporting event for the first time.
- a major sporting event
- The Olympics is a major sporting event watched worldwide.
- attend a sporting event
- We attended a sporting event at the new arena.
- a calendar of sporting events
- The club published a calendar of sporting events for the season.
- a sporting event takes place
- The sporting event takes place every two years.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sports event
- Very common in American English and often used in compound names; 'sporting event' sounds slightly more formal and is common in British English.
- match
- A match is one game between two sides, so it is narrower than a sporting event, which can be a whole competition.
- competition
- A competition focuses on the contest itself rather than the occasion; a sporting event can include ceremonies and spectators.
Word family
Commonly confused: sporting event or sport event?
sporting event vs sport event
'Sport event' is not the usual phrase in standard English; use 'sporting event' or 'sports event' instead.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
'A sporting event' is correct because the noun is singular and countable, and 'a' comes before the adjective. Option 1 wrongly adds a plural noun after 'a', option 2 puts the article in the wrong place, and option 3 uses 'an' before a consonant sound.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sporting event”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.