This week’s theme
Terms from ball games

This week’s words
Monday morning quarterback
slam dunk
bush league
googly
spin doctor

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(slam duhnk)

MEANING:

noun:	1. In basketball, a shot in which a player jumps up and slams the ball down through the basket.
	2. Something easy to do or certain to occur.
verb tr.:	1. To thrust the ball down through the basket.
	2. To defeat decisively.

ETYMOLOGY:

From slam (to hit or thrust), possibly of Scandinavian origin + dunk (to dip), from Pennsylvania German dunke (to dip). Earliest documented use: 1969.

USAGE:

“Howell wasn’t supposed to be a difficult case. It should have been a slam dunk.”
Keith Walley; Bloodguilt; Lulu; 2012.

See more usage examples of slam dunk in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: