medal

Everyday

1. A medal is a flat piece of metal, often round and on a ribbon, given as a prize or to honour someone. tree →
2. In sport, to medal means to win a medal. tree →

In the lessons

In sport, the Olympic Games give gold, silver and bronze medals for first, second and third places. Soldiers, police and brave people get medals for courage. In maths problems, medal tables are counted and compared. Phrases: "gold medal", "win a medal", "medal table".

Examples

• She won a gold medal for swimming. tree →
• Everyone who finished the race got a medal. tree →
• The firefighter got a medal for bravery. tree →
• Our team came third and won bronze medals. tree →
• Grandad keeps his medals in a box. tree →
• The country with the most gold medals tops the medal table. tree →
• In the course of the year he won the little silver prize medal of the Academy, and afterwards he gained the great one too. tree →

Note

Countable. Homophone: "meddle" (to interfere) sounds the same. Gold is first, silver second, bronze third. In British spelling the verb is medalled; American is medaled.