basketball
Americannoun
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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
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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:
“It represents a belief in the future of the Sparks. And it represents a belief in where women’s basketball and women’s sports are going.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
It also will include two regulation basketball courts, a performance and training environment, hydrotherapy and recovery rooms and a player sanctuary.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
“Joey and I had the privilege of learning from our father and then spending nearly two decades building our own careers in professional basketball operations,” Jesse Buss, 38, said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
The 26-year-old was visiting from Scotland to attend a Celtics basketball game when his U.K. license got rejected from half-a-dozen bars in one night.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
“Oh, honey, you can play basketball in Tucson. I’m sure this Ray person will understand.”
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
Other sports have made accommodations for female body types, such as lower sprint hurdles in athletics or lighter and smaller basketballs.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
A couple of the pumpkins are the size of basketballs, with 10 or more smaller ones trying to catch up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
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
So I tell her I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, then head off to my next class.Gym class is supposed to be about balls: volleyballs, basketballs, softballs, soccer balls—sometimes sit-ups and always sweat.
From "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander
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.
