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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

score.

The total number of goals, points, runs, etc. earned by a participant in a game.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/skɔː/Received-Pronunciation/skoɹ/General-American/sko(ː)ɹ//skoə/
  1. The total number of goals, points, runs, etc. earned by a participant in a game.

    The player with the highest score is the winner.
  2. The number of points accrued by each of the participants in a game, expressed as a ratio or a series of numbers.

    The score is 8-1 even though it's not even half-time!
  3. The performance of an individual or group on an examination or test, expressed by a number, letter, or other symbol; a grade.

    The test scores for this class were high.
  4. Twenty (20).

  5. Twenty (20). A distance of twenty yards, in ancient archery and gunnery.

  6. Twenty (20). A weight of twenty pounds.

  7. Twenty (20). A period of twenty years.

  8. Twenty (20). Twenty pounds sterling.

    UK · slang
  9. A great deal; many, several.

    in-plural · often
    Some words have scores of meanings.
  10. An amount of money won in gambling; winnings.

  11. The written form of a musical composition showing all instrumental and vocal parts.

  12. The music of a movie or play.

  13. A subject.

  14. An account; a reason; a motive; a sake; a behalf.

  15. A notch or incision; especially, one that is made as a tally mark; hence, a mark, or line, made for the purpose of account.

  16. An account or reckoning; account of dues; bill; debt.

  17. A criminal act, especially: A robbery.

    US · slang
    Let's pull a score!
  18. A criminal act, especially: A bribe paid to a police officer.

    US · slang
  19. A criminal act, especially: An illegal sale, especially of drugs.

    US · slang
    He made a big score.
  20. A criminal act, especially: A prostitute's client.

    US · slang
  21. A sexual conquest.

    slang · vulgar
  22. In the Lowestoft area, a narrow pathway running down a cliff to the beach.

    UK · regional
  23. A document which systematically lists differences among compiled manuscripts of a source text.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- Proto-Germanic *skurō Old Norse skorder. Old English scoru Middle English score English score From Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru (“notch; tally; score”), from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō (“incision; tear; rift”), which is related to *skeraną (“to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“cut”). Cognate with Icelandic skora, Swedish skåra, Danish skår. Related to shear. For the sense “twenty”: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.

verb/skɔː/Received-Pronunciation/skoɹ/General-American/sko(ː)ɹ//skoə/
  1. To cut a notch or a groove in a surface.

    transitive
    The baker scored the cake so that the servers would know where to slice it.
  2. To record the tally of points for a game, a match, or an examination.

    intransitive
  3. To obtain something desired.

    ambitransitive
  4. To obtain something desired. To earn points in a game.

    ambitransitive
    It is unusual for a team to score a hundred goals in one game.
    Pelé scores again!
  5. To obtain something desired. To achieve academic credit on a test, quiz, homework, assignment, or course.

    ambitransitive
  6. To obtain something desired. To win money by gambling.

    ambitransitive
  7. To obtain something desired. To acquire or gain.

    ambitransitive · slang
    I scored some drugs last night.
    Did you score tickets for the concert?
  8. To obtain something desired. To extract a bribe.

    US · ambitransitive · slang
  9. To obtain something desired. To obtain a sexual favor.

    ambitransitive · slang · vulgar
    Chris finally scored with Pat last week.
  10. To rate; to evaluate the quality of.

    transitive
    Critics scored the game 92%.
  11. To provide (a film, etc.) with a musical score.

    transitive
  12. To return (a horse and rider) to the starting-point repeatedly, until a fair start is achieved.

    ambitransitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- Proto-Germanic *skurō Old Norse skorder. Old English scoru Middle English score English score From Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru (“notch; tally; score”), from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō (“incision; tear; rift”), which is related to *skeraną (“to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“cut”). Cognate with Icelandic skora, Swedish skåra, Danish skår. Related to shear. For the sense “twenty”: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.

intj/skɔː/Received-Pronunciation/skoɹ/General-American/sko(ː)ɹ//skoə/
  1. An acknowledgement of success.

    US · slang
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- Proto-Germanic *skurō Old Norse skorder. Old English scoru Middle English score English score From Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru (“notch; tally; score”), from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō (“incision; tear; rift”), which is related to *skeraną (“to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“cut”). Cognate with Icelandic skora, Swedish skåra, Danish skår. Related to shear. For the sense “twenty”: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.