goal S2 W1 AC / ɡəʊl $ ɡoʊl / noun [ countable ]
1 something that you hope to achieve in the future SYN aim :
Your goal as a parent is to help your child become an independent adult.
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In everyday British English, people often talk about what someone is aiming to do rather than talk about someone’s goal :
His goal is to set up his own business. ➔ He’s aiming to set up his own business. 2 the area between two posts where the ball must go in order to score in games such as football or hockey
be in goal/keep goal British English (= be the goalkeeper )
3 the action of making the ball go into a goal, or the score gained by doing this :
I scored the first goal .
COLLOCATIONS
adjectives
sb’s main/primary goal My main goal was to get the team to the finals. | The primary goal of the 1917 Revolution was to seize and redistribute the wealth of the Russian empire.
sb’s ultimate goal (= what they eventually and most importantly hope to achieve ) The ultimate goal is a freer, more democratic society.
an immediate goal (= that you need to achieve very soon ) Our immediate goal is to cut costs.
a long-term goal (= that you hope to achieve after a long time ) The organization’s long-term goal is to gain a strong position in the European market.
a short-term goal (= that you hope to achieve after a short time ) Companies should not focus only on the short-term goal of profitability.
sb’s personal goal They had to sacrifice personal goals for their family life.
a common goal (= an aim shared by more than one person or organization ) Iran and Turkey shared common goals in their handling of the refugee crisis.
a realistic/achievable goal Students are encouraged to set themselves realistic goals for academic improvement. | We pushed for what we thought were achievable goals
an ambitious goal (= an aim that will be difficult to achieve ) The agreement set ambitious goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
a modest goal (= an aim that is not too difficult to achieve ) Don’t try to lose a lot of weight quickly; set yourself a more modest goal.
verbs
have a goal She had one goal in life: to accumulate a huge fortune.
work towards a goal We are all working towards similar goals.
pursue a goal Have we gone too far in pursuing the goal of national security?
achieve/attain/reach your goal She has worked hard to achieve her goal of a job in the medical profession. | They’re hoping to reach their goal of raising £10,000 for charity.
set (yourself/somebody) a goal (= decide what you or someone else should try to achieve ) It helps if you set yourself clear goals.
COLLOCATIONS
verbs
score a goal Robbie Keane scored a goal just before halftime.
get a goal It was great that he got that goal so late in the game.
head a goal (= score a goal by hitting the ball with your head ) Peter Crouch headed England’s equalizing goal.
make a goal (= help another player to score a goal ) Rooney made the goal with a superb pass to Saha.
concede a goal (= let the other team score a goal ) Arsenal conceded a goal in the final minute of extra time.
let in a goal (= let the other team score a goal ) Chelsea let in a goal in the 63rd minute.
disallow a goal (= not allow a goal to be counted because a rule has been broken ) The goal was disallowed for offside.
adjectives
the winning goal Berbatov scored the winning goal from just outside the box.
an own goal (= when a player accidentally puts the ball into his/her own net ) Dixon scored an unfortunate own goal against West Ham.
a last-minute goal A last-minute goal condemned Fulham to a 0–1 home defeat.
an equalizing goal British English (= a goal that gives you the same number of points as your opponent ) A loud cheer went up as he scored the equalizing goal.
