Meaning & use
varsity sport
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableAmerican
A sport played by the main competitive team representing a high school or college against other schools.
Grammar: Countable: play a varsity sport, two varsity sports.
Patterns
- play a varsity sport
- varsity sport at something
Soccer is a varsity sport at our high school.
She earned a scholarship because she played a varsity sport.
Students who play a varsity sport must keep a minimum grade average.
Word forms
| plural | varsity sports |
|---|
Common combinations
- play a varsity sport
- He played a varsity sport for three years.
- make a varsity sport
- She hopes to make the varsity team in swimming.
- varsity sport scholarship
- The varsity sport scholarship covered most of his tuition.
- varsity sport program
- The college expanded its varsity sport program.
Synonyms and how they differ
- interscholastic sport
- Interscholastic sport is the formal term for school competitions, while varsity sport is the everyday phrase.
- intercollegiate sport
- Intercollegiate sport refers only to colleges, whereas varsity sport can also mean high school.
- school sport
- School sport is generic and may include casual games, unlike a varsity sport with a top competitive team.
Opposites
Word family
- varsity noun
- the top team representing a school
- university noun
- the word varsity was shortened from this
- sporting adjective
- relating to sport
- sportsman noun
- a person who plays sport
Commonly confused: varsity sport or junior varsity?
varsity sport vs junior varsity
Junior varsity is the second-level team for less experienced players, while varsity is the top team.
Practice
Jin tried out and made the school's top team in track. In US schools, track is a ____.
Choose one answer.
A varsity sport is played by a school's main competitive team. The other choices are not types of sport.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “varsity sport”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.