Meaning of match in English

match

noun

/mætʃ/ us

/mætʃ/

match noun (COMPETITION)

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A2 [ C ] mainly UK

(US usually game)

a sports competition or event in which two people or teams compete against each other:

a tennis match

a football/cricket match

We won/lost the match.

match with Liverpool have a match with (= against) Blackburn next week.

man/woman of the match UK

the person who has scored the most points or played the best in a match:

The goalkeeper was replaced by an impressive stand-in who went on to win woman of the match.

More examplesFewer examples

The national anthems of the teams are played at the beginning of a big international football match.
We spent the afternoon at a football match.
Fans packed the stadium to watch the final match.
England has to win tonight's qualifying match to go through to the next round of the competition.
Only one goal was scored in the entire match.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Competitions, & parts of competitions

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match noun (STICK)

B2 [ C ]

a short, thin stick made of wood or cardboard and covered with a special chemical at one end that burns when rubbed firmly against a rough surface:

box of matches The lighter was not working, but we managed to find a box of matches.

strike a match You should always strike a match away from you.

Poligrafistka/iStock/Getty Images Plus/GettyImages

put a match to something UK

to make something burn:

Some of the pages were blackened, as though someone had put a match to them.

More examplesFewer examples

He was fined for dropping a match on the pavement.
She lit the fire with a match.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Heaters & burners

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match noun (EQUAL)

[ S ]

a person or thing that is equal to another person or thing in strength, speed, or quality

be no match for something/someone

to be less powerful or effective than someone or something else:

Gibson ran well but was no match for the young Italian.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Describing people with the same qualities

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match noun (SUITABLE)

C2 [ S ]

something that is similar to or combines well with something else:

match for The curtains look great - they're a perfect match for the sofa.

[ S ]

If two people who are having a relationship are a good match, they are very suitable for each other:

She thought that James would be a good match for her sister.

a match made in heaven

two people or things that combine together especially well:

Theirs is a match made in heaven.

More examplesFewer examples

These shoes are a perfect match for my bag.
If you don't buy enough wallpaper, it will be difficult to get a good match later.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Matching and co-ordinating

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Relationships: finding a partner

match

verb

/mætʃ/ us

/mætʃ/

match verb (EQUAL)

C1 [ T ]

to be as good as someone or something else:

It would be difficult to match the service this airline gives its customers.

More examplesFewer examples

The government has promised to match the money raised by the charity pound for pound.
The severity of the punishment should match the seriousness of the crime.
The teams were evenly matched until two quick goals from Robson tipped the balance in favour of England.
Do you really think our team has a chance of matching their score?
I'd like to match the total amount I raised in last year's marathon, at least.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Balance and imbalance

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match verb (LOOK SIMILAR)

B1 [ I or T ]

If two colours, designs, or objects match, they are similar or look attractive together:

Do you think these two colours match?

Does this shirt match these trousers?

to match She had just bought a new sofa with curtains to match.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Matching and co-ordinating

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Being or appearing similar or the same

match verb (CHOOSE)

B1 [ T ]

to choose someone or something that is suitable for a particular person, activity, or purpose:

In the first exercise you have to match each capital city to its country.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Matching and co-ordinating

Phrasal verbs

match someone against someone
match up
match something up
match something/someone up

(Definition of match from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

match | American Dictionary

match

noun

/mætʃ/

match noun (COMPETITION)

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[ C ]

a sports competition or event in which two people or teams compete against each other:

a tennis/wrestling match

fig. They got into a shouting/shoving match (= they were arguing or fighting).

match noun (STICK)

[ C ]

a short, thin stick of wood or cardboard, covered at one end with a material that will burn when rubbed against a rough surface

match

verb [ I/T ]

/mætʃ/

match verb [I/T] (BE SUITABLE)

to be similar to or the same as something, or to combine well with someone or something else:

[ I ] The shirt and pants match perfectly.

[ T ] Her fingerprints matched the prints that were taken from the crime scene.

match verb [I/T] (BE EQUAL)

to be equal to another person or thing in some quality:

[ T ] It would be difficult to match the service this airline gives its customers.

Phrasal verb

match up to something

(Definition of match from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

match | Business English

match

verb

/mætʃ/ us

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[ T ]

to be equal to another person or thing in quality, amount, or level:

Few people can match his combination of skills.

Results this year may not match last year's.

I'm looking for a job that matches my qualifications and ambitions.

[ I or T ]

to be the same as something else, or to be the same as each other:

The program automatically finds websites and news stories that match your interests.

His actions and his words did not match.

[ T ]

to find something that is the same as something else, or goes well with it:

match sth against sth Bring a sample of the colour you want to our store, and we will match it against one of our paint colours.

match sth/sb to sth We can help you match the person to the job.

[ T ]

to give or offer the same amount of money as has been given, collected, or offered by someone else:

It's hard for small stores to match supermarket prices.

The charity will receive federal money to match the first $250 of each contribution.

match

noun

/mætʃ/ us

[ C ]

something that is the same as something else:

I searched for his name in the database but got the message "No match".

find/make a match Detectives found a match with samples taken from the crime scene.

I compared the two signatures, and they were an exact match.

[ S ]

a person or thing that is equal to another person or thing in quality or power:

a match for sb/sth The newspaper's new head is certainly a match for the previous editor.

be no match for sth/sb

to be less powerful or effective than someone or something else:

Their computer firewall was no match for the hackers.

(Definition of match from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of match

match

The first argument of the tuple matches the category of the first daughter of the indexed rules.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The resulting phrase is then added to the list of contexts, together with the matched word and the path that led to the context.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Such a sequent is not an axiom unless a formula in that matches the facts in exists.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

When we find that a signature matches a set of words, we analyze the words into stem and affix with that signature.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The evaluation scheme provided a scoring method for exact matches to fine-grained senses as well as one for partial matches at a more coarse-grained level.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A simple nine-way gate ensured that the routing for the sensor was matched with the correct scaling required for that control function.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In contrast, only 3 of the 649 children in the other language groups matched this figure.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Phonemes in words should always benefit from the presence of matching lexical representations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The asset manager and asset-managed samples were independent and not matched.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Therefore, on this matched task, accent discriminated between the speech-disordered group and the control group.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The three main aspects that characterize a pattern matching technique are pattern classes, degree of similarity, and matching methods.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The input given by the designer should be represented in such a way that these searching and matching processes can be carried out.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The main drawback of the first-generation systems is the restricted view of the direct list matching inferences.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The positions are represented after pattern recognition by matching experimental parabolas to the theoretical ones.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The weakness of their approach is that sophistication of the social theory is not matched by an equivalent theorisation of the music.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of match

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with match

match

These are words often used in combination with match.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

away match

I suggest that no one should be permitted to travel by means of group travel to the away match unless he is a ticket holder.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

boxing match

A boxing match, or sporting contests more generally, might look like a promising type of counterexample.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

cage match

Hairs steel cage match and were all shaved bald.

From

Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

See all collocations with match

What is the pronunciation of match?

Translations of match

in Chinese (Traditional)

比賽, 比賽，競賽, 棍…

in Chinese (Simplified)

比赛, 比赛，竞赛, 棍…

in Spanish

partido, cerilla, hacer pareja…

in Portuguese

partida, fósforo, combinar…

in more languages

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in Italian

सामना, आगकाडी, समसमान…

試合, 競技, マッチ（棒）…

karşılaşma, müsabaka, maç…

allumette [feminine], qqn/qqch qui va bien avec, équivalent [masculine]…

partit, llumí, fer joc (amb)…

lucifer, wedstrijd, iets wat past bij…

ஒரு விளையாட்டு போட்டி அல்லது இரண்டு பேர் அல்லது அணிகள் ஒருவருக்கொருவர் எதிராக போட்டியிடும் நிகழ்வு, மரம் அல்லது அட்டைப் பெட்டியால் செய்யப்பட்ட ஒரு சிறிய, மெல்லிய குச்சி மற்றும் ஒரு முனையில் ஒரு சிறப்பு ரசாயனத்தால் மூடப்பட்டிருக்கும்…

मुकाबला, मैच, दियासलाई…

સ્પર્ધા, મુકાબલો, રમત…

tændstik, kamp, match…

tändsticka, match, som går (passar) bra ihop…

mancis, pertandingan, padan…

das Streichholz, der Wettkampf, das Passende…