tackle

Everyday

1. To try to take the ball from a player, or to bring a player to the ground, in games like football, rugby and hockey. tree →
2. To start dealing with a problem or a hard job: tackle your homework. tree →
3. As an uncountable noun, tackle is the equipment for a sport, especially fishing tackle (rods, lines, hooks). tree →
4. To grab and stop someone, for example a police officer tackles a thief. tree →

In the lessons

In sport and PE, a tackle is a move to win the ball; a fair tackle goes for the ball, not the player's legs, so nobody gets hurt. In school and everyday life, we "tackle" a problem step by step: tackle the hardest question first, tackle the mess in your room. In stories, a hero tackles a robber. Phrases: "tackle a problem", "a fair tackle", "a sliding tackle", "fishing tackle", "tackle box".

Examples

• The defender made a clean tackle and won the ball. tree →
• In rugby you may only tackle the player who has the ball. tree →
• Let's tackle the maths homework before dinner. tree →
• We need to tackle the litter problem at our school. tree →
• Grandpa keeps his fishing tackle in the shed. tree →
• The police officer tackled the man and stopped him. tree →
• She tackled the hardest puzzle first. tree →
• A late tackle can hurt someone, so the referee blew the whistle. tree →

Note

Tackle can be a verb or a noun. As equipment ("fishing tackle") it is uncountable: not "a fishing tackle". In American football and rugby a tackle means bringing a player down; in soccer it means taking the ball with your feet. Using "tackle" for problems is common and polite: "How shall we tackle this?"