dunking

American

[duhng-king] / ˈdʌŋ kɪŋ /

noun

the action of plunging or being plunged into water or other liquid.

Learning to canoe cost her several dunkings.

Etymology

Origin of dunking

First recorded in 1915–20; dunk + -ing ¹

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:

dunking

Here he is dunking in 2024 before singing with the jazz band.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2026

But the dunking spawned the legend of the "Curse of the Colonel" that said the Tigers would never win another title until the effigy was recovered.

From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025

Pickleball may be everywhere, but it’s continuing to mature as a serious sport, and Waters is its Michael Jordan—if Michael Jordan was dunking on Naismith’s peach baskets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025

He starts each morning by folding his hands in prayer, dunking his face in a sink full of ice water afterward.

From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2025

“Well, start dunking of a way to get in,” he orders Raj.

From "The Fourteenth Goldfish" by Jennifer L. Holm

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023