Library / English Dictionary

CHAMPION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field

Synonyms:

ace; adept; champion; genius; hotshot; maven; mavin; sensation; star; superstar; virtuoso; whiz; whizz; wiz; wizard

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("champion" is a kind of...):

expert (a person with special knowledge or ability who performs skillfully)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "champion"):

track star (a star runner)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who fights for a cause

Synonyms:

champion; fighter; hero; paladin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("champion" is a kind of...):

defender; guardian; protector; shielder (a person who cares for persons or property)

Derivation:

champion (protect or fight for as a champion)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Someone who has won first place in a competition

Synonyms:

champ; champion; title-holder

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("champion" is a kind of...):

challenger; competition; competitor; contender; rival (the contestant you hope to defeat)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "champion"):

record-breaker; record-holder (someone who breaks a record)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A person who backs a politician or a team etc.

Example:

they are friends of the library

Synonyms:

admirer; booster; champion; friend; protagonist; supporter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("champion" is a kind of...):

advocate; advocator; exponent; proponent (a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "champion"):

Whig (a supporter of the American Revolution)

verifier; voucher (someone who vouches for another or for the correctness of a statement)

maintainer; sustainer; upholder (someone who upholds or maintains)

toaster; wassailer (someone who proposes a toast; someone who drinks to the health of success of someone or some venture)

sympathiser; sympathizer; well-wisher (someone who shares your feelings or opinions and hopes that you will be successful)

endorser; indorser; ratifier; subscriber (someone who expresses strong approval)

Shavian (an admirer of G. B. Shaw or his works)

seconder (someone who endorses a motion or petition as a necessary preliminary to a discussion or vote)

Roundhead (a supporter of parliament and Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War)

mainstay; pillar (a prominent supporter)

Graecophile; philhellene; philhellenist (an admirer of Greece and everything Greek)

New Dealer (a supporter of the economic policies in the United States known as the New Deal)

loyalist; stalwart (a person who is loyal to their allegiance (especially in times of revolt))

Jacobite (a supporter of James II after he was overthrown or a supporter of the Stuarts)

functionalist (an adherent of functionalism)

free trader (an advocate of unrestricted international trade)

Francophil; Francophile (an admirer of France and everything French)

enthusiast; partisan; partizan (an ardent and enthusiastic supporter of some person or activity)

corporatist (a supporter of corporatism)

Confederate (a supporter of the Confederate States of America)

cheerleader (an enthusiastic and vocal supporter)

Boswell (a devoted admirer and recorder of another's words and deeds)

believer; truster (a supporter who accepts something as true)

anglophil; anglophile (an admirer of England and things English)

Derivation:

champion (protect or fight for as a champion)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Holding first place in a contest

Example:

a prizewinning wine

Synonyms:

champion; prizewinning

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

best ((superlative of 'good') having the most positive qualities)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Protect or fight for as a champion

Synonyms:

champion; defend

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "champion" is one way to...):

back; endorse; indorse; plump for; plunk for; support (be behind; approve of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

champion (someone who fights for a cause)

champion (a person who backs a politician or a team etc.)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Everything was a friend, or bore her thoughts to a friend; and though there had been sometimes much of suffering to her; though her motives had often been misunderstood, her feelings disregarded, and her comprehension undervalued; though she had known the pains of tyranny, of ridicule, and neglect, yet almost every recurrence of either had led to something consolatory: her aunt Bertram had spoken for her, or Miss Lee had been encouraging, or, what was yet more frequent or more dear, Edmund had been her champion and her friend: he had supported her cause or explained her meaning, he had told her not to cry, or had given her some proof of affection which made her tears delightful; and the whole was now so blended together, so harmonised by distance, that every former affliction had its charm.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I described that extraordinary care always taken of their education in arts and arms, to qualify them for being counsellors both to the king and kingdom; to have a share in the legislature; to be members of the highest court of judicature, whence there can be no appeal; and to be champions always ready for the defence of their prince and country, by their valour, conduct, and fidelity.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Of their terrible chief few details came out during the proceedings, and if I have now been compelled to make a clear statement of his career it is due to those injudicious champions who have endeavoured to clear his memory by attacks upon him whom I shall ever regard as the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“And may I ask, sir,” said Alleyne, “why it is that you call yourself champion of the Bishop of Montaubon?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But don’t expect that you’re goin’ to come here and get glutted by a middle-weight champion for nothing.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You are their champion, and assert their rights.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He spoke little of his own exploits in Brazil and Peru, but it was a revelation to me to find the excitement which was caused by his presence among the riverine natives, who looked upon him as their champion and protector.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Ask him the grain output of Paraguay for 1903, or the English importation of sheetings into China for 1890, or at what weight Jimmy Britt fought Battling Nelson, or who was welter-weight champion of the United States in '68, and you'll get the correct answer with the automatic celerity of a slot-machine.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Any attempt at recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless, and there, deep down in that dreadful caldron of swirling water and seething foam, will lie for all time the most dangerous criminal and the foremost champion of the law of their generation.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Thou wilt have holy Church upon you if you hang her champions upon iron hooks in an inn kitchen.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)