previous / next

umpire ~ empire

[different first sound: the ‘u’ in “umpire” rhymes with the ‘u’ in ‘but’; the ‘e’ in “empire” rhymes with the ‘e’ in “end”]

“Umpire”, as a noun, is ‘a qualified or experienced person whose job is to make sure that the rules in sports such as tennis, cricket, baseball are followed properly by the players playing a match, and to decide if a player is to be sent out of the game, etc. for not following the rules during the game’; as a verb, it is ‘to do the job of making sure that the rules in a game are followed properly’,

an umpire showing a red card to a player in a soccer game

e.g.

The umpire called our batsman out, but the camera clippings showed us otherwise.

A famous retired batsman was invited to umpire the first international cricket match.

[A ‘referee’ is a qualified or experienced person whose job is to make sure that the rules of such sports as football, basketball, boxing, etc. are followed properly by the players during a match.]

____________________

“Empire” (noun) is ‘a group of countries (kings) that are won and controlled by one ruler (emperor); a group of smaller organisations owned and controlled by one person or one big organisation’,

(map showing the Roman Empire)

e.g.

The great Roman Empire fell in 1453 A.D.

In the business world, there are several empires: the media empire, dominated by the BBC; the computer softwareempire, dominated by Microsoft; and so on.

<<< Back to List U /  Next un ~ non >>>

<<< Back to main page