beer league

[ beer leeg ]

noun

1. a community sports league, such as for hockey, softball, or soccer, whose members are amateurs of diverse ages and walks of life and play purely for the fun and socializing involved: games are usually accompanied or followed by alcohol and food:

   My dad has played hockey in a beer league for years now, along with accountants, plumbers, and students.

adjective

1. relating or belonging to an amateur community sports league typically more focused on social activity than athletic prowess:

   Whether at the professional level or the beer-league level, team chemistry is just as important as talent.

   A few years back my beer league softball team lost our sponsor, so we had to come up with a new name.

2. typical or suggestive of a beer league, especially in lacking skill, sophistication, professionalism, etc.:

   After a decade of low-end, beer-league uniforms, even hospital gowns would be an upgrade for this major-league team.

   As impressed as I was that my beer-league therapist had delivered a major-league, insightful diagnosis, I was in no mood to discuss it.

   That kind of haphazard management seems pretty beer league.

Other Words From

• beer lea·guer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of beer league¹

First recorded in 2010–15

Example Sentences

After getting a look at those awful softball beer league uniforms the All-Stars wore Tuesday night, can we all agree to bring back the days when players wore their own team uniforms?

From Los Angeles Times

Beer league and youth racers alike have fewer excuses now that the double, one of The Summit at Snoqualmie’s oldest lifts, has been replaced with a Doppelmayr triple lift rising higher up the mountain.

From Seattle Times

Maybe you compete through high school, perhaps find a regular pickup game or beer league after college.

From Seattle Times

He has the choice of walking away and playing for free in a Sunday beer league in which people won’t call him names.

From Los Angeles Times

The 53-year-old said he plays soccer in a Sunday “beer league” that meets in Glendale.

From Los Angeles Times