basketball
Americannoun
-
basketballs
plural
noun
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a game played by two opposing teams of five men (or six women) each, usually on an indoor court. Points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal metal hoop
-
the inflated ball used in this game
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of basketball
Explanation
Basketball is a team sport in which players work together to bounce a ball down the length of a court and throw it through a hoop. Some college basketball games are hugely popular and very competitive. In basketball, two teams of five players collaborate to score points by successfully throwing the ball — also called a basketball — through the nets that hang from hoops at either end of the court. The game was invented in 1891, and the word basketball first appeared in print the next year, from basket and ball.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Founded in Massachusetts in the early 1900s, the popularity of Converse has skyrocketed since its Chuck Taylor sneaker was first introduced to US basketball courts in 1917.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
The Ellisons gave about $1 million to the men’s basketball team for the 2025-26 season, Jolin said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
While UCLA’s home football attendance was an obvious sore point, the average turnout at Pauley Pavilion for men’s basketball games was not much better.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Though basketball and football matches have already started, the Asian Games officially begin on Saturday and will end on 4 October.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
He dashes out of the room and comes back with a basketball.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
Specs can digitize a chess board, provide AR-guided training for shooting basketballs and even highlight the coolant reservoir under the hood of a car, according to videos and photos online.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
There I was, dribbling basketballs like a Globetrotter, diving through inter-dimensional portals, riding on the back of a galloping dinosaur in an explosive train heist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
Aday Mara and Lazar Stefanovic stood alongside one another on the perimeter and tapped basketballs before firing three-pointers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2025
When viewed under a scanning electron microscope, the powder resembles tiny basketballs with billions of holes, said study leader Zihui Zhou, a materials chemist who is working on his PhD at UC Berkeley.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2024
They have images of basketballs and say GO PANTHERS!
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
