sandbag
Americanverb (used with object)
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to furnish with sandbags.
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to hit or stun with a sandbag.
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Informal.
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to set upon violently; attack from or as if from ambush.
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to coerce or intimidate, as by threats.
The election committee was sandbagged into nominating the officers for a second term.
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to thwart or cause to fail or be rejected, especially surreptitiously or without warning.
He sandbagged our proposal with his snide remarks to the boss.
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Poker. to deceive (one or more opponents) into remaining in the pot by refraining from betting on a strong hand, then raising the bet in a later round.
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Informal. to gain an advantage over (one or more competitors) by concealing one's abilities or other strengths early in a game or other competitive activity.
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Informal. to gain an advantage by concealing or downplaying the strengths of (something).
companies that sandbag their earnings estimates and then easily beat them to make everyone happy.
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verb (used without object)
noun
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a sack filled with sand used for protection against gunfire, floodwater, etc, or as ballast in a balloon, ship, etc
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a bag filled with sand and used as a weapon
verb
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to protect or strengthen with sandbags
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to hit with or as if with a sandbag
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finance to obstruct (an unwelcome takeover bid) by prolonging talks in the hope that an acceptable bidder will come forward
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sandbagsimple
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sandbagssimple
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have sandbaggedperfect
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has sandbaggedperfect
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am sandbaggingprogressive
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are sandbaggingprogressive
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is sandbaggingprogressive
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have been sandbaggingperfect progressive
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has been sandbaggingperfect progressive
Past
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sandbaggedsimple
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had sandbaggedperfect
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was sandbaggingprogressive
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were sandbaggingprogressive
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had been sandbaggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sandbag
Explanation
A sandbag is a big bag of sand. If a hurricane is coming, chuck a sandbag or two by the beach house to keep the water out. Also, to sandbag someone is to trick or bully them into doing something. Sand is inexpensive and heavy, which is why sandbags are used for jobs like protecting vehicles and buildings during bombings or storms, or balancing the total weight on a boat. When you use sandbag as a verb, it either means to protect with sandbags or to deceive or coerce someone to get something you want. When you pretend that you're terrible at basketball just so you can beat your cousin in one-on-one, you sandbag her.
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:
Ultimately, Bertrand removes a 50-pound sandbag from the counterweight bin, tightens the sling, and realigns the wooden trough.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025
Fellow resident Mark Clayton, helped to co-ordinate the sandbag collection, shovelling more than 140 tonnes of sand.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2025
And he has had spills in the public eye: falling off a bicycle, tripping over a sandbag.
From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2024
They are more careful to make sure there are no obstacles in his path, like the sandbag he tripped over at the Air Force Academy in June.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2023
Quickly, talking to himself, Azar hurled the last gas grenade, shot up another flare, then snatched the rope again and made the white sandbag dance.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
In response, the company introduced a wind-assist kit—a pair of cables, clips and sandbags that can keep the fabric from drooping.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
"We don't even have, for example sandbags, up at this end of the road."
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2026
Belfast City Council has issued a reminder that sandbags are available if people think their homes are at immediate risk of flooding.
From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2026
Ready-to-fill sandbags are available at all Los Angeles Fire Department stations within the city of Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025
Each man was weighed down with sixty pounds of equipment, including picks, shovels, and sandbags judged necessary to fortify enemy positions that, according to Haig’s plan, had already been conquered for them by the artillery.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
"The president called to check on me. I told him I got sandbagged," McConnell joked to reporters, referencing President Joe Biden's explanation for his fall last month.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2023
"Rather than wait for any response from the defense, the government sandbagged the process, filing this letter at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening," Bankman-Fried's lawyers wrote.
From Reuters ● Jan. 28, 2023
Storefronts were sandbagged to ward off high water levels in an area prone to inundation.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 29, 2022
Kash Kashmiri, 30, arrived at the store he manages, Total Nutrition, in Brickell by 10 a.m. and found water inside its sandbagged entryway.
From New York Times ● Jun. 4, 2022
The place was dark and cool, I remember, with crumbling walls and sandbagged windows and a ceiling full of holes.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
Starting any new car company in America, let alone an electric one, requires uncanny maneuvering and persistence against every kind of bureaucratic, regulatory and political sandbagging.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Institute experts also looked at the possibility of models "sandbagging" - or strategically hiding their true capabilities from testers.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2025
In a further sandbagging of any big-city swagger Seattle has left, its citizens will have to drive to a Walgreens near suburban Issaquah if they need a pharmacist’s help in the wee hours.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 1, 2023
"There are now 60 Australian Defence Force personnel on the ground, assisting with evacuations, assisting with sandbagging, doing their bit as our Defence Forces always do," Albanese said.
From Reuters ● Oct. 16, 2022
The sandbagging on the ground-floor windows was reinforced, and civilian contractors were on the roofs checking the firmness of the chimney stacks and the concreted skylights.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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.
