major league
noun
1
: a league of highest classification in U.S. professional baseball
broadly
: a league of major importance in any of various sports
2
major leaguer
noun
Examples of major league in a Sentence
when you've landed a tenure-track position at that university, you're playing in the major leagues
Recent Examples on the Web
The Giants, meanwhile, committed their major league leading 100th error at a critical moment to open the door for Freeman’s go-ahead single in the sixth.
—
Joe Noga, cleveland, 13 Sep. 2023
Before the injury, the 28-year-old was baseball’s most dominant reliever and Baltimore’s most valuable pitcher, with a 1.48 ERA, 33 saves and 110 strikeouts in 61 innings in his second major league season.
—Nathan Ruiz, Baltimore Sun, 11 Sep. 2023
The 21-year-old Carter, the Texas Rangers top prospect according to MLB Pipeline, made his major league debut on Friday, having been called up to the big league club to take the place of injured right fielder Adolis Garcia.
—Sportsday Staff, Dallas News, 9 Sep. 2023
The 29-year-old, who underwent his second Tommy John procedure in August 2022, threw two innings for Oklahoma City last week and had been hopeful of making a major league return this month.
—Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2023
Stanton, the 2017 NL MVP, reached 400 homers in 1,520 career games — fourth-fastest in major league history behind Mark McGwire (1,412), Babe Ruth (1,475) and Alex Rodriguez (1,489).
—Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press, 6 Sep. 2023
The joy is just in being at a major league baseball game.
—John Kelly, Washington Post, 6 Sep. 2023
By 2018, a similar survey revealed that the percentage of minor league pitchers who had Tommy John soared to 19%; 26% of major league pitchers had undergone the reconstructive surgery.
—Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 31 Aug. 2023
Latrobe pays $10 to quarterback John Brallier for expenses.
1950 — Brooklyn’s Gil Hodges ties a major league record by hitting Boston Brave pitching for four homers in the Dodgers’ 19-3 rout.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2023
See More
Joe Noga, cleveland, 13 Sep. 2023
Before the injury, the 28-year-old was baseball’s most dominant reliever and Baltimore’s most valuable pitcher, with a 1.48 ERA, 33 saves and 110 strikeouts in 61 innings in his second major league season.
—Nathan Ruiz, Baltimore Sun, 11 Sep. 2023
The 21-year-old Carter, the Texas Rangers top prospect according to MLB Pipeline, made his major league debut on Friday, having been called up to the big league club to take the place of injured right fielder Adolis Garcia.
—Sportsday Staff, Dallas News, 9 Sep. 2023
The 29-year-old, who underwent his second Tommy John procedure in August 2022, threw two innings for Oklahoma City last week and had been hopeful of making a major league return this month.
—Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2023
Stanton, the 2017 NL MVP, reached 400 homers in 1,520 career games — fourth-fastest in major league history behind Mark McGwire (1,412), Babe Ruth (1,475) and Alex Rodriguez (1,489).
—Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press, 6 Sep. 2023
The joy is just in being at a major league baseball game.
—John Kelly, Washington Post, 6 Sep. 2023
By 2018, a similar survey revealed that the percentage of minor league pitchers who had Tommy John soared to 19%; 26% of major league pitchers had undergone the reconstructive surgery.
—Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 31 Aug. 2023
Latrobe pays $10 to quarterback John Brallier for expenses.
1950 — Brooklyn’s Gil Hodges ties a major league record by hitting Boston Brave pitching for four homers in the Dodgers’ 19-3 rout.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'major league.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1887, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Dictionary Entries Near major league
Cite this Entry
“Major league.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/major%20league. Accessed 23 Sep. 2023.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
major league
noun
: a league in the highest class of U.S. professional sports
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share