slam
1 Americanverb (used with or without object)
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slams,
present (3rd person singular)
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slammed,
past participle, past
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slamming
present participle
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to shut with force and noise.
to slam the door.
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to dash, strike, knock, thrust, throw, slap down, etc., with violent and noisy impact.
He slammed his books upon the table.
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Informal. to criticize harshly; attack verbally.
He slammed my taste mercilessly.
noun
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a violent and noisy closing, dashing, or impact.
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the noise so made.
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Slang. Usually the slam slammer.
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Informal. a harsh criticism; verbal attack.
I am sick of your slams.
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Informal.
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Also called poetry slam. a competitive, usually boisterous poetry reading.
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a usually competitive performance involving multiple performers with short acts: a tap dance slam.
puppet slams;
a tap dance slam.
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noun
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the winning or bidding of all the tricks or all the tricks but one in a deal.
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an old type of card game associated with ruff.
verb
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to cause (a door or window) to close noisily and with force or (of a door, etc) to close in this way
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(tr) to throw (something) down noisily and violently
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slang (tr) to criticize harshly
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informal (intr; usually foll by into or out of) to go (into or out of a room, etc) in violent haste or anger
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(tr) to strike with violent force
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informal (tr) to defeat easily
noun
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the act or noise of slamming
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slang harsh criticism or abuse
noun
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the winning of all (grand slam) or all but one (little slam or small slam) of the 13 tricks at bridge or whist
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the bid to do so in bridge See grand slam little slam
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an old card game
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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slamsimple
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slamssimple
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have slammedperfect
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has slammedperfect
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am slammingprogressive
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are slammingprogressive
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is slammingprogressive
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have been slammingperfect progressive
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has been slammingperfect progressive
Past
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slammedsimple
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had slammedperfect
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was slammingprogressive
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were slammingprogressive
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had been slammingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slam1
First recorded in 1650–60; perhaps from Scandinavian; compare Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish slamra “to bang (a door), slam”
Origin of slam2
First recorded in 1660–70; perhaps special use of slam 1
Explanation
To slam is to close something forcefully and loudly, like when you slam your door angrily, or slam the freezer door quickly so your sister won't see the ice cream sandwiches you bought. If you slam your finger in the door, it's going to hurt. And, if you slam your backpack onto the table, you may damage your laptop. The word slam implies violence and force. As a noun, a slam is the action or sound of slamming something. There's also a "poetry slam," when poets compete by reciting their work in front of an audience, and slam-dancing, also known as moshing, in which dancers slam into each other.
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:
Oregon must open doors for struggling students, not slam them shut.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
During heavy winter swells, waves 20 to 30 feet high can slam against the cliffs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
But hitting the $1 trillion goal is far from a slam dunk.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
Gamers were quick to slam the policy as an unethical incursion on their privacy.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
I burst through the sliding door and slam it shut with a glass-rattling slap.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
Nearby a large excavator slams its shovel into another building's remains.
From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026
The Court’s decision slams the door to such judicial misadventures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
With medical personnel who helped his family in October on hand, Alex Vesia slams the door on the Mets to preserve the Dodgers’ one-run victory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
Another idea suggests the brightness spikes occur when the blast wave from the explosion slams into dense shells of gas surrounding the star.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 11, 2026
Disgruntled, Jacqui hops in the back, pushing Garrett into the middle, and slams the door.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
The admin emails to which Microsoft sent those notifications tend to get slammed with junk from spammers, leading software developers to recommend ignoring those inboxes altogether.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Dashcam video captured the dramatic moment a lorry slammed into an overpass in New York.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
By 1924 the draconian Johnson-Reed Act slammed America’s doors shut, leading ultimately to a more than 90% fall in immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
In March 2022, a rocket slammed into the moon, creating a double crater about 95 feet wide.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
Yamu-nedjeh clapped out a rhythm with his hands and all one hundred thirty of us slammed our dolerite against the granite.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
After slamming into the Japanese islands and sweeping past Taiwan's northern tip, Bavi is expected to make landfall in eastern China over the weekend.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Johnson retired the first eight batters he faced and ended up getting the final 11 outs of the game with just two singles allowed, slamming the door shut for his first save of the season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
China Eastern flight MU5375 was travelling from Kunming to Guangzhou on March 21, 2022, when the jet inexplicably fell from an altitude of 29,000 feet, slamming into a mountain.
From Barron's ● May 8, 2026
United says it has saved millions of connections for customers—and saved employees from slamming the door on them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026
She glanced up as I came in the room, then went back to banging and slamming.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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.
