basket
Americannoun
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baskets
plural
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a container made of twigs, rushes, thin strips of wood, or other flexible material woven together.
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a container made of pieces of thin veneer, used for packing berries, vegetables, etc.
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the amount contained in a basket; a basketful.
to pick a basket of apples.
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anything like a basket in shape or use.
He never empties my wastepaper basket.
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any group of things or different things grouped as a unit; a package; package deal.
You can't buy the single stock; you have to take the basket—all companies, stocks and bonds.
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the car or gondola suspended beneath a balloon, as for carrying passengers or scientific instruments into the atmosphere.
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Basketball.
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an open net suspended from a metal rim attached to the backboard and through which the ball must pass in order for a player to score points.
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a score, counting two for a field goal and one for a free throw.
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Also called snow ring. Skiing. a ring strapped to the base of a ski pole to limit penetration of the pole in the snow.
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Slang: Vulgar. the male genitals, especially when outlined by a tight-fitting garment.
noun
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a container made of interwoven strips of pliable materials, such as cane, straw, thin wood, or plastic, and often carried by means of a handle or handles
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Also called: basketful. the amount a basket will hold
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something resembling such a container in appearance or function, such as the structure suspended from a balloon
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basketball
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an open horizontal metal hoop fixed to the backboard, through which a player must throw the ball to score points
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a point or points scored in this way
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a group or collection of similar of related things
a basket of currencies
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the list of items an internet shopper chooses to buy at one time from a website
add these items to your basket
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of basket
1250–1300; Middle English basket ( te ) < early Romance *baskauta (> French dialect bâchot, bachou wooden or interwoven vessel, Old High German baskiza box) < Latin bascauda basin, perhaps < British Celtic
Explanation
A basket is a container made of woven straw or other material. You might keep your dirty clothes in a plastic laundry basket. There are many different types of baskets, from the shopping basket you carry in a grocery store to the basket you aim for when you throw a basketball. There are figurative baskets, too, like the basket you add items to when you're shopping online. What's known about the origin of basket is that it comes from the Anglo-French bascat — beyond that, it's a mystery.
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:
She animatedly talked to a teal spinning cat track toy, while polydactyl-toed kitty Orbitz lounged behind her in a basket.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
LendingTree, which also published a back-to-school survey, broke down the average K-12 spending basket as follows:
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
The U.S. economy keeps putting more eggs in the artificial-intelligence basket.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Seeing eggs, rice, yogurt in writing makes it easier to recognize what a bunch of greens or a basket of cucumbers could become—and easier to pivot when the ingredient I imagined isn’t there.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
When we arrived at the alley behind the shop, James stopped short before we reached the door and set down my basket.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
By then, the baskets had been picked over.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
When ready, the baskets were lifted out of the water by crane and placed on a barge alongside the Salvor, where researchers sifted through the contents by hand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
The researchers placed two of these baskets opposite one another.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
With the game tied at 60 entering the fourth quarter, Phoenix scored consecutive baskets and never trailed again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Benji got a few more baskets and blocked half a dozen shots, but he fouled just as often.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
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.
