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.
For the last few days, smack dab in the middle of his long-awaited breakthrough at USC, Arenas was sick.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026
Among the cities smack dab in the action: Dallas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis, Cleveland; Buffalo, New York; and Montreal — making for the continent’s biggest eclipse crowd.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 12, 2024
“We are smack dab in the middle of search and rescue and we’ll continue to put every available asset that we have to find the Titan.”
From Washington Times • Jun. 21, 2023
And now they're smack dab in the middle of it, once again.
From Salon • May 5, 2023
People who lived there liked to say the town was 150 miles west of Phoenix, 250 miles east of Los Angeles, and smack dab in the middle of nowhere.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
