reigning heavyweight champion

[hhtt21]

"Melik Oktay is reigning heavyweight champion and this year’s captain of the Turkish Tigers Sports Association."

What does "reigning heavyweight champion" means. Question is about reigning because I know following part.

to be the best or most powerful

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reigning

I cannot connect the sentence with the definition in the link. Would you please help?

https://books.google.com.tr/books?i...he Turkish Tigers Sports Association.&f=false

Thank you.

 

[andrewg927]

It means Melik is the current champion.

I am not a teacher.

 

[hhtt21]

It means Melik is the current champion.

I am not a teacher.

But why does the link not express current? Do current events=reigning events and current news=reigning news?

Thank you.

 

[jutfrank]

reigning champion sounds better than current champion. It has more of a magesterial feel.

to reign means something like to be dominant. A champion is dominant like a king or queen.

reigning events doesn't make sense.

 

[hhtt21]

reigning champion sounds better than current champion. It has more of a magesterial feel. A champion is like a king or queen.

reigning events doesn't make sense.

Then can we say that reigning has a special nuance than current and is used for special cases such as champions? Can we say that Leicester City is the reigning champion of the Premier League?

Thank you.

 

[jutfrank]

When these words are used as adjectives before champion, they effectively have the same meaning, yes.

Yes, Leicester are the reigning champions.

 

[Rover_KE]

Excellent, Piscean. I've bookmarked that post to quote in the future.

 

[hhtt21]

Most words in English (and in all the other languages that I know) have an almost infinite range of subtle meanings. I use the same word, 'table' for the 55cm square, 45cm high piece of furniture in my living room and the 120cm square, 78 cm high, piece of furniture in my dining room. The former is made of plastic, and is white. The latter is made of wood, and is brown (and has drop-down sides). I suppose that an incredibly large dictionary might have a list of definitions of 'table' with separate entries for my different tables, the round table, or the massive table at Furzey Gardens. The subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) differences are often irrelevant. .

Yes, in your table example the difference is irrelevant but I think the difference is worthy of think when thinking current and reigning.

When you ask, as you often do, a variation on "Which of the definitions I have found is the appropriate one?" the best answer is often "All/some of them". The borderlines between different definitions are often artificial/blurred. Try looking up the meaning of any word you care to think of in a dozen or so dictionaries at www.onelook.com, and see how some of them use different words in their definitions.

You would probably do better to look at a few of the examples of the word in use given at fraze.it to get an idea of how the word is used than trying to shoe-horn examples you find into the definitions given in one or two dictionaries.

I think I cannot get the difference as Jutfrank explained in #4 when I look www.onelook.com or fraze.it because it seems that these are based on experience and and experienced person can explain these properly.

Thank you.

 

[andrewg927]

"Current" and "reigning" are not interchangeable so you can't say "a reigning event". Perhaps, it may be helpful if you just memorize the phrase "reigning champion" since we use it a lot.

I am not a teacher.

 

[andrewg927]

Piscean, it always gets me when people call a dog's hind legs 'arms'.

 

[hhtt21]

reigning champion sounds better than current champion. It has more of a magesterial feel.

to reign means something like to be dominant. A champion is dominant like a king or queen.

reigning events doesn't make sense.

Does reigning champion also sounds better than the last champion?

If it has more of a magesterial feel then can we say that who is a reigning champion then they are like last king of that field?

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

The "last champion" would be the person who was the champion before the reigning (current) champion.

 

[GoesStation]

Does "reigning champion" also sound [STRIKE]sounds[/STRIKE] better than "the last champion"?

If it has more of a magisterial feel then can we say that [STRIKE]who is[/STRIKE] a reigning champion is [STRIKE]then they are[/STRIKE] like the current [STRIKE]last[/STRIKE] king of that field?

Note my corrections. Remember to put quotation marks around phrases that you're writing about.

The last champion means the champion before the present one. The reigning champion is the current or latest one.

Your second question shows that you understand the term "reigning" correctly. Reign originated to describe the term of a monarch and was extended metaphorically to apply to any title placing a person at the top of their field.

 

[hhtt21]

The "last champion" would be the person who was the champion before the reigning (current) champion.

But now the Premier League is still continuing. So is Leicester City the reigning one or last one or because the league haven't finished is the current one unknown?

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, Leicester City is the reigning champion until this season finishes and another team becomes champion.

 

[Rover_KE]

Football supporters tend to say 'Leicester City are the reigning champions'.

 

[hhtt21]

Football supporters tend to say 'Leicester City are the reigning champions'.

But why do they say champions instead of just champion?

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

Football supporters tend to say 'Leicester City are the reigning champions'.

When I typed my post initially, I wrote "Leicester City are the reigning champions until this season finishes and someone else becomes champion". Even I thought that the combination of "are + champions" at the start with "becomes champion" at the end looked awkward. I then thought that "someone else" didn't work so I changed it to "another team". Somewhere in that mess, I decided to stick with "becomes champion" so I changed the start to the singular!

Out loud, I'd have said "Leicester City are the reigning champions until this season finishes and another team become champions". I really wish I'd gone with that now! ;-)

 

[jutfrank]

Football teams, like most (singular) group nouns can be though of as plural in British English.

Is this really different in AmE? GoesStation?

Would one really say The New England Patriots is the reigning champion?

 

[hhtt21]

Yes, Leicester City is the reigning champion until this season finishes and another team becomes champion.

Then reigning champion=present champion and last champion=previous champion?

Thank you.