From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmedalmed‧al1 /ˈmedl/ ●●● W3 noun [countable] 
DSAPa flat piece of metal, usually shaped like a coin, that is given to someone who has won a competition or who has done something brave She won a gold medal at the last Olympics. The two boys were awarded medals for bravery. → deserve a medal at deserve(3)COLLOCATIONSverbswin a medalThey won a medal at the Chelsea Flower Show.take a medal (=win a medal)German runner Stephan Freigang took the bronze medal.get a medal (also receive a medal formal)She received a medal from the Society of Arts.give somebody a medalHe was given a medal for his courageous actions.be awarded a medalThe book was awarded the Carnegie Medal.ADJECTIVESa gold medal (=for first place)He won the gold medal in Athens in 2004.a silver medal (=for second place)She was awarded the silver medal for the 100 metres.a bronze medal (=for third place)Morrell took the bronze medal in the long jump.medal + NOUNa medal winnerJohnson was a silver medal winner at the Olympic Games.
DSAPa flat piece of metal, usually shaped like a coin, that is given to someone who has won a competition or who has done something brave She won a gold medal at the last Olympics. The two boys were awarded medals for bravery. → deserve a medal at deserve(3)COLLOCATIONSverbswin a medalThey won a medal at the Chelsea Flower Show.take a medal (=win a medal)German runner Stephan Freigang took the bronze medal.get a medal (also receive a medal formal)She received a medal from the Society of Arts.give somebody a medalHe was given a medal for his courageous actions.be awarded a medalThe book was awarded the Carnegie Medal.ADJECTIVESa gold medal (=for first place)He won the gold medal in Athens in 2004.a silver medal (=for second place)She was awarded the silver medal for the 100 metres.a bronze medal (=for third place)Morrell took the bronze medal in the long jump.medal + NOUNa medal winnerJohnson was a silver medal winner at the Olympic Games.Examples from the Corpus
medal• By the late 1800s, medals began going to philanthropists, inventors and explorers.• Antislavery medals, work bags, albums and china also circulated, sometimes no doubt bearing images of the heroes.• Both he and Gorman went on to win championship medals in April.• She won three world championship medals and competed in 25 major international meets.• There was another gold medal for Brackley Sweetpeas from Wingrave in Buckinghamshire.• an Olympic gold medal• The gold medal was won by Anna Svensen.• The winning team went up to collect their medalsmedalmedal2 verb (medalled, medalling British English, medaled, medaling American English) [intransitive] to win a medal at a competition, especially at the Olympic Gamesmedal in Germany has the potential to medal in gymnastics this year.→ See Verb tableOrigin medal (1500-1600) French médaille, from Old Italian medaglia “coin of half value, medal”, from Late Latin medialis “middle”, from Latin medius; MEDIUM2 