full-court press
Americannoun
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Basketball. a tactic of harassing, close-guarding defense in which the team without the ball pressures the opponent man-to-man the entire length of the court in order to disrupt dribbling or passing and force a turnover.
Suddenly behind by eighteen points, they went to a full-court press.
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a vigorous attack or offensive.
noun
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.
It shot onto the New York Times bestseller list, aided by a full-court press from Griffin’s famous friends, including Gwyneth Paltrow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
At the Orthodox level, this practice can be full-court press, what with kosher-keeping, tefillin-laying, a regular round of daily prayer, Talmudic study and more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
With the Trojans leading by just a bucket, early in the second quarter, coach Lindsay Gottlieb enacted a full-court press, and USC flew into action, disrupting each and every possession from there.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2025
Mainers aren’t sure what this full-court press will mean for their state; keeping up with it is hard enough.
From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2025
“It really slowed down visa processing, removing requirements to process visas quickly. So I can’t imagine that there’s going to be some full-court press to get these visas processed in a short amount of time.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2025
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
