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
-
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:
The court heard Chiedza and her cousin went to play volleyball at the water's edge.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
Chiedza, who could not swim, got out of her depth while fetching a volleyball from the sea while playing with her 11-year-old cousin.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
Los Angeles is getting another pro women’s volleyball team.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
Major League Volleyball announced it will expand to L.A. in 2027, adding another team to the growing professional volleyball market.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
Jaimito and his buddies knew exactly who Virgilio Morales was the first night he came to play volleyball.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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
Call them “indoor beach volleyball camps,” except without the sand or the volleyballs.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2019
He set volleyballs on the couch or against a wall at the local park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2018
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.
