noun
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a game in which two teams hit a large ball back and forth over a high net with their hands
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the ball used in this game
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of volleyball
Explanation
Interested in playing a team sport? Consider volleyball, a game in which players use their arms and hands to hit a ball across a net, trying to keep the ball in the air. Teams score a point when the volleyball hits the floor on their opponent's side. There are two ways to play volleyball: in a gym and outside in the sand, a style known as beach volleyball. The indoor version requires six players per team, while the beach style has two players per side. Volleyball is a serious sport (it's even played in the Olympics), but you can also play for fun at a picnic or at the beach. Volleyball was invented in the late 1800s, right around the time basketball was first catching on.
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:
State football, basketball and girls volleyball will be put on linear television.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
If you already bought four beach volleyball tickets and four for soccer, you can buy eight general tickets and eight for soccer during the second drop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
I had a volleyball in my hands my entire life, so I’ve always just enjoyed it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Like Guardiola, Maresca talks to Julio Velasco, an Argentine-Italian volleyball coach, and basketball coach Ettore Messina, as he searches for ideas outside of football.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
But you have to admit, volleyball is not that great a sport.
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
Kendrick and Lively toss barbs like volleyballs, occasionally landing a good spike that makes the other one speechless.
From Salon ● May 3, 2025
The real-life adaptation, created by students in the United States in 2005, is equally fast-paced and sees so-called chasers trying to throw quaffles - semi-deflated volleyballs - through the opposition's hoops.
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2025
Comical as it is at times to watch 300-pound linemen lunge for volleyballs, the drill has a purpose.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 3, 2022
Officials in gloves sanitize the volleyballs, wipe down the table tennis surface and spray down the corners of the boxing rings.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 5, 2021
A few of the kids have decided to kick off their weekends by hurling volleyballs at the giant clock.
From "Liar & Spy" by Rebecca Stead
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.
