The difference between

Question

What is the real difference between the words 'sports' and 'games'. Dictionaries do not pin point the difference. Are they same in all respects?

Pieanne · Accepted Answer

As a start, I'd say that "games" implies "competition", whereas "sports" doesn't.

Philip · Answer

PieanneAs a start, I'd say that "games" implies "competition", whereas "sports" doesn't.

We certainly use 'games' to talk about competition, especially in the case of the Olympic Games. Other than that, I think there are several uses of the two, some of which overlap and contradict.

Sports: physical activities vs. Games: cards, checkers, etc.

Sport: a specific athletics (baseball) vs. Game: one event of competition (we're going to the baseball game today).

There's also the idea of 'game' in the sense of 'hunting' or other participation ("If you want to travel to Japan this year, I'm "game").

This is probably just a beginning.

CalifJim · Answer

Sports are usually athletic games, but also include races, which are not usually called games, but races. Not all games involve or require athletic skills, for example, Scrabble and other word games. Also, sports are not typically games of chance, like card games, although horse racing is considered a sport ( a race ) and not a game.

<>See Wittgenstein’s famous remarks on games if you’re feeling philosophical. “Wittgenstein's point is not that it is impossible to define "game", but that we don't have a definition, and we don't need one.”

CJ

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