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

: big time sense 2

major-league

ˈmā-jər-ˈlēg 

adjective

major leaguer noun

Synonyms

• big league(s)
• big time
• big(s)

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

Brown became the first person ever to homer in a major league game and play on a Super Bowl champion — a feat only matched since then by Deion Sanders. —Josh Dubow, Baltimore Sun, 30 Apr. 2025

Corbin Carroll stormed the national stage with one of the best seasons in major league history in 2023, steamrolling the field to win National League Rookie of the Year unanimously. —Jack Magruder, Forbes.com, 26 Apr. 2025

Tirso Ornelas is still looking for his first major league hit. —Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Apr. 2025

With the increasing rarity of back threes and wing-back formations in Europe’s major leagues, positional retraining is sometimes needed, especially for forwards, to operate in Glasner’s preferred 3-4-2-1. —Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1887, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for major league

• chincoteague
• blitzkrieg
• fatigue
• intrigue
• muskeg

Kids Definition

major league

noun

: a league in the highest class of U.S. professional sports