often capitalized
: a football game in which play is continuous without time-outs or substitutions, interference and forward passing are not permitted, and kicking, dribbling, lateral passing, and tackling are featured
Examples of rugby in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Leicester Tigers, an English rugby team, finished at the bottom of the sport’s Premiership in 2019, just about missing relegation.
—
Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 20 Apr. 2024
Twenty-nine countries boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal to protest the fact that New Zealand’s rugby team had toured apartheid South Africa.
—Daniel Arkin, NBC News, 17 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for rugby 
Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 20 Apr. 2024
Twenty-nine countries boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal to protest the fact that New Zealand’s rugby team had toured apartheid South Africa.
—Daniel Arkin, NBC News, 17 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for rugby
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rugby.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Rugby.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rugby. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
rugby
noun
rug·by
ˈrəg-bē 
often capitalized
: a football game between two teams in which play is continuous and the team that has the ball may run with it, kick it, or pass it sideways or backward but is not allowed to block or make forward passes
Etymology
named for Rugby School in England where the game was first played
Geographical Definition
Rugby
geographical name
Rug·by
ˈrəg-bē
town on the Avon River in Warwickshire, central England population 71,000
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