champion

«champion» in Mova's school dictionary: a person or team that has won a competition, especially… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a champion, champions); verb (champion, champions, championed, championing); adjective (champion, UK informal); noun: championship

meaning for a pupil

1) A champion is a person or team that has won a competition, especially the most important one: «the world champion». tree →

2) A champion of something is a person who fights for it or speaks up for it: «a champion of children's rights». tree →

3) To champion something means to support it and argue for it strongly. tree →

4) (UK, informal, old-fashioned) «Champion!» means excellent, great. tree →

5) In old tales, a champion is a brave fighter chosen to fight for a king or another person. tree →

sense in the lessons

In sport and PE, «champions» win leagues, cups and sports days; a «championship» is a competition for the title. In history and stories, a champion was a knight who fought on behalf of someone else. In PSHE and the news, people champion causes like recycling or kindness. Phrases: «world champion», «reigning champion», «defending champion», «Olympic champion», «a champion of…».

examples

• Our class were the sports day champions! tree →
• She is the world champion at chess. tree →
• The defending champions lost in the first round. tree →
• Martin Luther King was a champion of equal rights. tree →
• Our head teacher champions reading for pleasure. tree →
• The knight fought as the queen's champion. tree →
• «How was the match?» «Champion!» (UK, informal, Northern) tree →
• Liverpool became champions of the league. tree →

note

Plural «champions». Short informal form: «champ». «Championship» is the competition; «champion» is the winner. Trap: «the reigning champion» is the current one; «a former champion» won before.

In the corpora

• It was reported that an AI beat a world champion at the board game Go, after learning by playing enormous numbers of games.
• Then he imagined playing football against the Reception class, scoring forty goals, and walking off feeling like a champion.
• Theo's mum has been the family champion at a board game for six years.
• «Champion, son» (in the North of England «champion» means excellent).
• Check facts before using them: Messi has scored headers, including one in the 2009 Champions League final.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «champion» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.