What's the difference between medal and mettle?

Medal


Definition:

  • (n.) A piece of metal in the form of a coin, struck with a device, and intended to preserve the remembrance of a notable event or an illustrious person, or to serve as a reward.
  • (v. t.) To honor or reward with a medal.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) One of them got a gold medal in medicine, for being top of the year, but they dropped out for exactly these reasons.” These are not alarmist stories being spread by campaigners.
  • (2) Last month Kelli White, who won the 100 and 200 metres at the 2003 world championships in Paris, was banned for two years and stripped of her medals after admitting using THG.
  • (3) From Stranraer to Stornaway there is a fair chance every primary school child in the country will catch a glimpse of their heroine's gold medal at some stage, like it or not.
  • (4) When I had that keyhole surgery, I thought: ‘Maybe, if I come back, it won’t be to that top level.’ But with the support I have been getting from my coach, family and friends, I think that really motivated me to come back strong.” Kenya is more famed for its distance runners and steeplechasers than its hurdlers, but the country was left celebrating a surprise gold medal in the 400m hurdles when Nicholas Bett powered home from lane nine to smash his personal best to win in 47.79sec.
  • (5) Too distressed to utter more than a single word - "Devastated" - in the immediate aftermath of her withdrawal, a pale and red-eyed Radcliffe emerged yesterday to give her version of the events that ended the attempt to crown her career with a gold medal.
  • (6) In the men's double sculls Wells and Rowbotham continued the form that has seen them medal in every World Cup event.
  • (7) You have a secret hope but you like to keep it a secret because it sounds so arrogant to say I can win a medal and then don't get one."
  • (8) The unprecedented investment came to fruition in Beijing, with a medal count that the sports minister Hugh Robertson says was the ultimate proof of concept.
  • (9) As Mo Farah charged down the home straight, 80,000 people roaring him on to his second gold medal of these Games, his eyes wide, teeth bared, the whole stadium knew they were witnessing history in the making.
  • (10) Nicholls, who had qualified automatically for the final, scored 85.5 from the judges on his first run but was eventually nudged out of the medals.
  • (11) The men and women between them can now boast four medals at this Games, surpassing their targets (they had hoped for one or two), not to mention the British women's best placing in 84 years in the team final.
  • (12) She was fifth in the world championships in Moscow last year, where she missed out on a bronze medal by 28 points, and such was her performance in Götzis that her crushing disappointment on being ruled out of the Commonwealth Games was especially understandable.
  • (13) He's been the league MVP for two years in a row, he's the reigning NBA finals MVP, he led Team USA to a gold medal in last summer's Olympics, he's on this year's All-Defense first team, oh and there's that Sports Illustrated's sportsman of the year thing … OK, you get the idea, there's a lot of compelling evidence out there that suggests that the dude knows how to play basketball.
  • (14) We’re sacrificing our gold medal to help people in need,” said Thomas Glückselig, lugging a mound of bedding.
  • (15) It is trying to encourage people to register in their real names by adding a "medal of honour" for users who provide details for police checks.
  • (16) Given the paucity of British talent in the sport over recent decades, it is a tribute to Murray's remarkable consistency that in his last eight grand slam tournaments, he has reached three finals, four semi-finals and a quarter-final – not to mention overcoming Federer on Wimbledon's Centre Court to win a gold medal at the Olympics.
  • (17) Daley, who won a bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics, said he wanted to reveal the news in a video because he didn't want his words to be "twisted".
  • (18) (Edinburgh) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fauja Singh is awarded a British Empire Medal.
  • (19) He hankered for a return to Spain but, despite collecting four winners’ medals in his first season and celebrating the first league title of his career the following year, things did not proceed entirely as he might have hoped at Camp Nou.
  • (20) "As a council we enjoyed great success with Jimi and HESCO Bastion working together with them to achieve a historic gold medal for the city at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and everyone who knew him will remember his quiet manner, good nature, and tremendous pride in being from Leeds.

Mettle


Definition:

  • (n.) Substance or quality of temperament; spirit, esp. as regards honor, courage, fortitude, ardor, etc.; disposition; -- usually in a good sense.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Analysts and industry watchers say it is too soon to judge the mettle of Lewis and new finance director Alan Stewart, whose tenure can still be measured in weeks.
  • (2) His son has yet to prove his mettle on the political stage.
  • (3) It’s in these barren parts that the Edwards air force base is located, where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time, and where the test pilots celebrated in Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff proved their mettle before going on to become America’s first astronauts.
  • (4) First of all it puts the prime minister on their mettle.
  • (5) Our job is to co-ordinate the response, to see that this plays through, at least in the first phase, sweetly.” Nonetheless it is a mighty test for little Malta, which now has to prove its mettle as a European force to be reckoned with, fighting for the interests of the EU above those of the UK.
  • (6) Arsenal's defeat at Stoke and Manchester City's engagement in the Capital One Cup final meant victory would propel them into second place, a challenge to which teams of less mettle would not have risen.
  • (7) She is the founder and chief executive of Spark+Mettle , a charity that aims to help people flourish.
  • (8) Whether we have had the mettle to stay the course in delivering effective government for our country at a time of crisis.
  • (9) One of those funded is Discoverables Ltd, a company limited by shares set up by youth charity Spark+Mettle.
  • (10) He was a leader writer and then senior editor on the Times for the best part of a decade and showed his intellectual mettle as a member of Radio 4's Moral Maze panel.
  • (11) Visitors can rent a canoe from Thorncrest Outfitters in Tobermory, test their mettle by boulder-climbing in more remote spots, or scramble through caves along the lakeshores.
  • (12) The former World Bank economist is widely seen as a loyal timeserver, whose priority has been to maintain the Congress grip on power until Rahul Gandhi , a former management consultant still widely seen as yet to prove his political mettle, was ready to take what some see as his birthright.
  • (13) Michael Aston says: "Gotta feeling Ravens will win handily, not convinced San Fran have the mettle for this type of game against a vicious, tireless D and Flaco has been stellar lately.
  • (14) We do need to invest – in transport, in communications, in skills and, in fact, in our public services – because unless we have an educated and trained workforce, unless we have healthy workers, we are not going to be able to tackle that pretty grim picture on productivity, which caps our aspiration and caps our living standards.” Having worked closely with Vince Cable, the Lib Dem business secretary who lost his seat in May, and with new Tory ministers keen to show their cost-cutting mettle, she is concerned about whether Javid will put as much emphasis on industrial strategy.
  • (15) Insurgents have take advantage of Kabul's distracted state, launching some of the large offensives around the country to test the mettle of the fledgling security force.
  • (16) Such conservatives wanted Boehner to show more mettle in standing up to President Obama, particularly over their desire to see the women’s health organisation Planned Parenthood , which provides abortions, stripped of federal funding – an issue that brought the possibility of a shutdown to the fore.
  • (17) "Let us bring about a radical turn in the building of an economic giant with the same spirit and mettle as were displayed in conquering space."
  • (18) The 43-year-old, who entered parliament in 2004 when Congress returned to power, has struggled to convince voters and analysts, as well as many within his party, that he has the mettle for the brutal rough and tumble of politics in the world's largest democracy.
  • (19) You might think that when you train a skilled engineer to clean furniture – on the basis that the reason for his idleness was that he'd got out of the habit of work, that he needed to prove his mettle with whatever menial task you chose for him – there's a moral case to answer here, too.
  • (20) And so the performance, rehearsed with the professionals and now played with them, proceeds on its mettle – boisterous and ebullient, ending in applause.