match
//mæt͡ʃ//
Forms
- Plural
- matches
- present (v1)
- match
- past (v2)
- matched
- past participle (v3)
- matched
- present participle
- matching
- 3rd person singular
- matches
Definitions
1.Any contest or trial of strength or skill, or to determine superiority.
- A solemn match was made; he lost the prize.
2.Someone with a measure of an attribute equaling or exceeding the object of comparison.
- Dean Ippolito looks like an ordinary kid. But at chess, he is a knight of battle. Most adults are no match for him.
- Government […] makes an innocent man, though of the lowest rank, a match for the mightiest of his fellow subjects.
- He knew he had met his match.
3.A marriage.
- I watched a tennis match on TV.
4.A competitive sporting event such as a boxing meet (commonly called a "bout"), a baseball game, or a cricket match.
- My local team are playing in a match against their arch-rivals today.
- Can you play billiards? / Yes, do you wish to have a match with me? / Let us simply play (a game) for pleasure. We needn't have a match, as I don't like to gamble.
1.To agree; to be equal; to correspond.
- These two copies are supposed to be identical, but they don't match.
- Their interests didn't match, so it took a long time to agree what to do together.
- I'll be interested to see how this service does. It will be basic with fares to match, so will be akin to a budget airline taking on a flag-carrier.
2.To agree with; to be equal to; to correspond to.
- His interests didn't match her interests.
- There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
- Soon after the arrival of Mrs. Campbell, dinner was announced by Abboye. He came into the drawing room resplendent in his gold-and-white turban. […] His cummerbund matched the turban in gold lines.
3.To equal or exceed in achievement.
- She matched him at every turn: anything he could do, she could do as well or better.
4.To make a successful match or pairing.
- They found out about his color-blindness when he couldn't match socks properly.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2012
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English macche, mecche, from Old English mæċċa, ġemæċċa (“companion, mate, wife, one suited to another”), from Proto-West Germanic *makkjō, *gamakkjō (“partner, equal”), from Proto-Germanic *makô, from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, work”).