hit
Americanverb (used with object)
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hits,
present (3rd person singular)
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hit,
past participle, past
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hitting
present participle
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to deal a blow or stroke to.
Hit the nail with the hammer.
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to come against with an impact or collision, as a missile, a flying fragment, a falling body, or the like.
The car hit the tree.
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to reach with a missile, a weapon, a blow, or the like, as one throwing, shooting, or striking.
Did the bullet hit him?
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to succeed in striking.
With his final shot he hit the mark.
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Baseball.
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to make (a base hit).
He hit a single and a home run.
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bat.
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to drive or propel by a stroke.
to hit a ball onto the green.
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to have a marked effect or influence on; affect severely.
We were all hit by the change in management.
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to assail effectively and sharply (often followed byout ).
The speech hits out at warmongering.
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to request or demand of.
He hit me for a loan.
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to reach or attain (a specified level or amount).
Prices are expected to hit a new low.
The new train can hit 100 miles per hour.
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to be published in or released to; appear in.
When will this report hit the papers?
What will happen when the story hits the front page?
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to land on, arrive in, or go to: When does Harry hit town?
The troops hit the beach at 0800.
When does Harry hit town?
I’ve got plans to hit the club with my girls tonight.
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to give (someone) another playing card, drink, portion, etc..
If the dealer hits me with an ace, I'll win the hand.
Bartender, hit me again.
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to come or light upon; meet with; find.
to hit the right answer.
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to agree with; suit exactly.
I'm sure this purple shirt will hit Alfred's fancy.
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to solve or guess correctly; come upon the right answer or solution.
You've hit it!
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to succeed in representing or producing exactly.
to hit a likeness in a portrait.
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Informal. to begin to travel on.
Let's hit the road.
What time should we hit the trail?
verb (used without object)
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hits,
present (3rd person singular)
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hit,
past participle, past
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hitting
present participle
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to strike with a missile, a weapon, or the like; deal a blow or blows.
The armies hit at dawn.
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to come into collision (often followed by against, on, orupon ).
The door hit against the wall.
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(of an internal-combustion engine) to ignite a mixture of air and fuel as intended.
This jalopy is hitting on all cylinders.
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to come or light (usually followed by upon oron ).
to hit on a new way.
noun
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hits
plural
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an impact or collision, as of one thing against another.
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a stroke that reaches an object; blow.
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a stroke of satire, censure, etc..
a hit at complacency.
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Baseball. base hit.
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Backgammon.
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a game won by a player after the opponent has thrown off one or more men from the board.
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any winning game.
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a successful stroke, performance, or production; success.
The play is a hit.
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Slang. a dose of a narcotic drug.
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Digital Technology.
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(in information retrieval) an instance of successfully locating an item of data, as in a database or on the internet.
When I search for my name, I get lots of hits.
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an instance of accessing a website.
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Slang. a killing, murder, or assassination, especially one carried out by criminal prearrangements.
verb phrase
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hit out
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to deal a blow aimlessly.
a child hitting out in anger and frustration.
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to make a violent verbal attack.
Critics hit out at the administration's new energy policy.
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hit off
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to represent or describe precisely or aptly.
In his new book he hits off the American temperament with amazing insight.
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to imitate, especially in order to satirize.
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hit up
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to ask to borrow money from.
He hit me up for ten bucks.
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to inject a narcotic drug into a vein.
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hit on to make a sexual advance to.
guys who hit on girls at social events.
idioms
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hit the bottle, bottle.
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hit the high spots,
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to go out on the town; go nightclubbing.
We'll hit the high spots when you come to town.
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to do something in a quick or casual manner, paying attention to only the most important or obvious facets or items.
When I clean the house I hit the high spots and that's about all. This course will hit the high spots of ancient history.
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hit it off, to be congenial or compatible; get along; agree.
We hit it off immediately with the new neighbors.
My sister and Ellen never really hit it off.
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hit the books, to study hard; cram.
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hit or miss, without concern for correctness or detail; haphazardly.
The paint job had been done hit or miss.
verb
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(also intr) to deal (a blow or stroke) to (a person or thing); strike
the man hit the child
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to come into violent contact with
the car hit the tree
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to reach or strike with a missile, thrown object, etc
to hit a target
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to make or cause to make forceful contact; knock or bump
I hit my arm on the table
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to propel or cause to move by striking
to hit a ball
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cricket to score (runs)
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to affect (a person, place, or thing) suddenly or adversely
his illness hit his wife very hard
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to become suddenly apparent to (a person)
the reason for his behaviour hit me and made the whole episode clear
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to achieve or reach
to hit the jackpot
unemployment hit a new high
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to experience or encounter
I've hit a slight snag here
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slang to murder (a rival criminal) in fulfilment of an underworld contract or vendetta
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to accord or suit (esp in the phrase hit one's fancy )
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to guess correctly or find out by accident
you have hit the answer
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informal to set out on (a road, path, etc)
let's hit the road
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informal to arrive or appear in
he will hit town tomorrow night
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informal to demand or request from
he hit me for a pound
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slang to drink an excessive amount of (alcohol)
to hit the bottle
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slang music start playing
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slang to have sexual intercourse
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slang to go to bed
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to be completely taken by surprise
noun
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an impact or collision
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a shot, blow, etc, that reaches its object
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an apt, witty, or telling remark
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informal
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a person or thing that gains wide appeal
she's a hit with everyone
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( as modifier )
a hit record
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informal a stroke of luck
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slang
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a murder carried out as the result of an underworld vendetta or rivalry
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( as modifier )
a hit squad
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slang a drag on a cigarette, a swig from a bottle, a line of a drug, or an injection of heroin
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computing a single visit to a website
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informal to make a favourable impression on
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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hitternoun
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nonhitnoun
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outhitverb (used with object)
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hitlessadjective
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hittableadjective
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self-hittingadjective
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unhitadjective
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unhittableadjective
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well-hitadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hitsimple
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hitssimple
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have hitperfect
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has hitperfect
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am hittingprogressive
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are hittingprogressive
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is hittingprogressive
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have been hittingperfect progressive
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has been hittingperfect progressive
Past
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hitsimple
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had hitperfect
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was hittingprogressive
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were hittingprogressive
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had been hittingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hit
First recorded before 1100; 1865–70, hit for def. 5a; Middle English hitten, Old English hittan; perhaps from Scandinavian; compare Old Norse hitta “to come upon (by chance), meet with”
Explanation
When you hit someone, you smack or strike them — either with an object or with your hand. If you're frustrated about how slowly the traffic is moving, you might hit the dashboard of your car with your fist. Ouch. A boxer can hit a punching bag, and you can slip and hit your head on a chair. Other kinds of hits include bombs, bullets, or missiles striking targets; assassins or "hitmen" killing someone for pay; and reaching a certain goal, like when you hit a high note or your income hits six figures. You can also colloquially "hit the road," or get going; and "hit up" your friend for five dollars, or ask to borrow it.
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:
Many Flores residents have traumatic memories of another 7.7-magnitude quake that hit the island in 1992, triggering a tsunami and killing about 2,500.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Panettiere's career spanned three decades with a string of roles in other hit shows and films, including the Scream horror franchise and the romantic comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
But Liam Dawson held his nerve to hit the winning runs with a six over mid-wicket, sealing victory with two balls to spare.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
He was an immediate hit with the Yankees, winning 21 games in 1979 and finishing second in the American League Cy Young voting, then won 22 in ’80.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
They hit the kennels and steal meat but they would rather have berries and seeds.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
The setlist is largely pulled from 2024's Eternal Sunshine album - at the expense of major hits like God Is A Woman, Problem and Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson quashed the Dodgers’ offense, giving up just three hits and one run over seven innings, to give the Brewers a 6-2 win in front of an announced crowd of 45,828.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
That was the only run Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up in six innings — holding the Brewers to four hits while striking out nine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
Sony wrote off most of its investment just five years later following a string of box-office flops and profligate spending, before a turnaround helped by hits like 1997 blockbuster “Men In Black.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
When a speeding neutron hits a hydrogen nucleus, the hydrogen atom jumps, absorbing some of the neutron’s momentum, but it does not break.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
In videos posted to social media, he also was captured hitting a blocking sled at UCLA, and going through speed and agility drills at the Rams’ facility in Woodland Hills.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
“The game tends to humble everybody,” Cardinals minor-league hitting coordinator Brock Hammit said, “and he got humbled.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The Guardian shows Team GB athlete Morgan Lake seeking shade from the heat under an umbrella during the European Athletics Championship in Birmingham above an article headlined on temperatures hitting 38.1C "as fifth heatwave peaks".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The U.S. economy may appear vibrant, based on headlines about the low unemployment rate, the slow pace of layoffs, an apparent slowdown in inflation and the stock market hitting record highs.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Then light machine guns, mounted on the fronts of planes, were equipped with “interrupter” gears that allowed the guns to fire through the propellers without hitting the blades.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
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.
