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• slam dunk
  slam dunk

  noun

  a particularly forceful, often dramatic dunk shot.
• slam-dunk
  slam-dunk

  verb (used with object)

  to dunk (the ball) with great force.

slam dunk

¹ American  

noun

• slam dunks
  plural

1. Basketball. a particularly forceful, often dramatic dunk shot.

2. Slang. something regarded as certain to occur or be accomplished, typically something desirable that requires little further effort.

   The election is starting to look like a slam dunk for our side.

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slam-dunk ² American  

[slam-duhngk] / ˈslæmˌdʌŋk /

verb (used with object)

1. Basketball. to dunk (the ball) with great force.

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slam dunk British  

noun

1. basketball a scoring shot in which a player jumps up and forces the ball down through the basket

2. informal a task so easy that success in it is deemed a certainty

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verb

1. basketball to jump up and force (a ball) through a basket

slam dunk Idioms  

1. A forceful, dramatic move, as in That indictment was a slam dunk if ever there was one. This expression is also often put as a verb, slam-dunk, meaning “make a forceful move against someone,” as in This is a great chance for us to slam-dunk the opposition. The idiom comes from basketball, where it refers to a dramatic shot in which the ball is thrust into the basket from above the rim. It was transferred to other activities from about 1980 on.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• slam dunker
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• slam dunks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of slam dunk

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

slam dunk slam-dunk

When the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit last December to halt the project, the press corps pushed the litigation as a slam dunk.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Of course, betting on sports rights isn’t a slam dunk.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026

England's Tommy Fleetwood shot a four-under-par 67 to finish joint-seventh on 12-under, which included a slam dunk eagle with his approach shot on 15 from 173 yards out.

From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2026

The NBA's ploy to inject intensity into this weekend's All-Star Game with a new US-versus-the-world format has divided basketball's biggest superstars before a single slam dunk has been scored.

From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026

With the world’s help, it’s practically a slam dunk.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

We’re still baking with I-don’t-know berries, because the market’s earnings yield is by no means a slam-dunk predictor of future returns.

From Barron's ● May 14, 2026

On paper, the D Line should be a slam-dunk for Los Angeles mass transit.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026

But she added, “I don’t think it’s a slam-dunk prosecution.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026

But after aggregating the data from dozens of studies, the researchers weren’t able to make a slam-dunk case against processed meat.

From Slate ● Aug. 2, 2025

I grabbed her at her waist, lifted her so she could slam-dunk the eight-foot rim.

From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin