referee
part of speech
noun (a referee, referees); verb (referee, referees, refereed, refereeing)
meaning for a pupil
1) A referee is the person who makes sure players follow the rules in a game like football, rugby or basketball, and decides what happens when they do not. tree →
2) A referee is a person who writes about you to say you are good for a job or school place. tree →
3) To referee is to act as the referee in a game. tree →
4) To referee an argument is to help people sort it out fairly. tree →
sense in the lessons
In PE and sport, the referee blows the whistle to start and stop play, gives free kicks and penalties, and shows yellow and red cards in football. Players must respect the referee's decisions even if they disagree. In everyday life, a parent might referee an argument between siblings. Phrases: «the referee blew the whistle», «argue with the referee», «assistant referee».
examples
- The referee blew the whistle for half-time. tree →
- The referee showed him a red card. tree →
- Don't argue with the referee. tree →
- Our teacher refereed the netball match. tree →
- The referee gave us a penalty. tree →
- Mum had to referee a fight over the TV remote. tree →
- In rugby the referee explains decisions out loud. tree →
- A good referee is fair to both teams. tree →
note
Plural referees. Informal short form: «ref». In cricket, tennis and baseball the official is called an «umpire», not a referee. Spelling: double e at the end; past «refereed», -ing «refereeing».
In the corpora
- "Some choice words" means swear words or insults, as in "she had some choice words for the referee".
- Owning up when the referee missed something shows fair play, which people respect.
- You accept the referee's decision without arguing; arguing can earn a yellow card.
- When a player is hurt, play stops and the referee and coach help; you can kick the ball out of play.
- Shouting at a referee or coach does not change the decision, and can get you benched or sent off.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «referee» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.