sandbag
Americanverb (used with object)
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sandbags,
present (3rd person singular)
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sandbagged,
past participle, past
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sandbagging
present participle
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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)
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sandbags,
present (3rd person singular)
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sandbagged,
past participle, past
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sandbagging
present participle
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
He added that locals have been trying, "to sandbag as many buildings as we can", as well as board up windows and get the island's clam farms secured.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2024
The challenged California law bans the possession, manufacture, importation or sale of “any leaded cane, or any instrument or weapon of the kind commonly known as a billy, blackjack, sandbag, sandclub, sap, or slungshot.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
And he has had spills in the public eye: falling off a bicycle, tripping over a sandbag.
From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2024
I’d rigged it up myself: a sandbag painted white, a pulley system.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
“It’s the equivalent of putting a few sandbags out once the flood has already started,” George Catrambone, Americas head of fixed income at DWS Group, said of the beefed-up buyback plan.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
Hick said Syston residents could also do their bit by cleaning their gullies and drains now and again in autumn when leaves begin to drop and consider flood barriers, sandbags and tarpaulins for their properties.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
"What you're seeing now is the most remarkable sight we haven't seen in 10 years," Keelung restaurant owner Penny Pan, 48, said as her husband placed sandbags at the entrance to their eatery.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
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
Most huts, Ellsberg saw, did have some kind of shelter—holes in the ground, or sandbags in the corner.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Scholz visited Reichertshofen, north of Munich, inspecting a sandbagged river bank and meeting regional officials including Markus Söder, Bavaria’s governor.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
"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
The hallmarks of a wartime capital, though, were unmistakable: sandbagged statuary, rusted “hedgehog” tank traps, checkpoints on roads leading to the city.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 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
“We’ll have to inform everybody simultaneously, as soon as possible. I want to start with Fred Murphy at the C.D.C. I don’t want him to be sandbagged by this.”
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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
"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
Early on, the city braced for a potential Russian amphibious attack, shoring up defenses, sandbagging pastel-colored buildings, blocking off key approaches with antitank “hedgehogs” fashioned from steel beams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 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.
