goal

 
Pronunciation: /gəʊl/

noun

  • 1(in football, rugby, hockey, and some other games) a pair of posts linked by a crossbar and typically with a net between, forming a space into or over which the ball has to be sent in order to score.
  • an instance of sending the ball into or over the goal, especially as a unit of scoring in a game: the decisive opening goal we won by three goals to two
  • a cage or basket used as a goal in other sports.
  • 2the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result: he achieved his goal of becoming King of England
  • the destination of a journey: the aircraft bumped towards our goal some 400 miles to the west
  • literary a point marking the end of a race.

Phrases

in goal

in the position of goalkeeper.

Derivatives

goalless

adjective

goalwards

adverb

Origin:

Middle English (in the sense 'limit, boundary'): of unknown origin