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.
“We don’t want to live in fear, so we make ourselves useful working for organizations that move the scale away from fear and put us smack dab in the middle of love.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2025
We’re smack dab in the middle of 2010 again.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2025
Among the cities smack dab in the action: Dallas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis, Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; and Montreal — making for the continent’s biggest eclipse crowd.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
Sanders has the Buffaloes smack dab in the center of the college football universe this week courtesy a 45-42 win at then-No.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 5, 2023
Our little room on 129th off Seventh was smack dab in the middle of all the action in Harlem.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
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.
