goalnoun [ C ]
uk/ɡəʊl/us/ɡoʊl/goal noun [ C ] (SPORT)
A2 an area on a playing field, that usually has two posts with a net fixed behind them, where players try to send the ball in order to score in sports such as football and hockey:
Black kicked/headed the ball into/towards the goal.
A2 a point scored in some sports, such as football and hockey, when a player gets the ball into this area:
Brazil won by three goals to one.
Only one goal was scored in the entire match.
be/play in goal UK
to be the player who tries to prevent the other team from scoring goals:
Who is playing in goal for Milan this evening?
an open goal
a goal area that has been left without any defenders:
Young rolled the ball across the six-yard box for Rooney to tap the ball into the open goal.
More examples
- Whenever their team scored a goal, they leaped up and down clanking their beer cans together.
- It was Johansson who scored the all-important goal shortly before half-time.
- Coventry had a goal disallowed for offside.
- He scored a spectacular goal in the second half.
- He scored three goals in quick succession.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
General terms used in ball sports
- aggregate score
- assist
- back pass
- bobble
- center circle
- chip
- goalless
- holding
- lay
- layoff
- long ball
- man on! idiom
- man-to-man defense
- man-to-man marking
- overarm
- set piece
- shoot
- sidespin
- unplayable
- wrong-foot
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goal noun [ C ] (AIM)
B1 an aim or purpose:
Our goal is for the country to be fully independent within two years.
They have set themselves a series of goals to achieve by the end of the month.
Do you think I'll be able to achieve my goal of losing five kilos before the summer?
More examples
- We must ensure that we do not set ourselves goals that are not attainable.
- They have set themselves a series of goals to achieve by the end of the month.
- The protection of the Antarctic from commercial exploitation is an important goal of environmentalists.
- Our goal is for the country to be fully independent within two years.
- Some economists think that full employment in Europe is an unattainable goal.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Goals and purposes
- affordance
- aim
- ambition
- aspiration
- avail
- cause 1
- dedicated
- deliverable
- end
- KPI
- objective
- order
- orientation
- point
- poodle
- poodle around (sth)
- prize
- should
- use
- utility
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