smack dab
Americanadverb
Etymology
Origin of smack dab
First recorded in 1890–95; smack 2 ( def. ) (in the sense “directly, straight”) + dab 1 ( def. ) (in the sense “a quick, light blow,” used adverbially)
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.
“Didn’t you hear that door bust open right as we disappeared? We are going to Glitch back smack dab in the middle of a pack of angry security officers. And my mom,” she said, swallowing hard.
From Literature
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The farm we lived on was called Cherokee land because it was smack dab in the middle of the Cherokee Nation.
From Literature
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For the last few days, smack dab in the middle of his long-awaited breakthrough at USC, Arenas was sick.
From Los Angeles Times
There was no chance of seeing an ocean in Sassafras Springs, which is set smack dab in the center of the country.
From Literature
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He wasn’t on the ground no more—he was flying high, smack dab in the middle of a cyclone!
From Literature
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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.