basketball

noun

bas·​ket·​ball ˈba-skit-ˌbȯl 

often attributive

: a usually indoor court game between two teams of usually five players each who score by tossing an inflated ball through a raised goal

also : the ball used in this game

Examples of basketball in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Stream the basketball games in both men’s and women’s sports on top channels like ABC, FOX, NBC, CBS, ESPN, SEC Network, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, FS1, and more. —Kilty Cleary, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Nov. 2025

Adam Sandler and Timothée Chalamet are hitting the awards circuit − and the basketball court. —Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 16 Nov. 2025

Seated on the school’s basketball courts and brought in through a tunnel of USC cheerleaders, Chalamet and Sandler discussed first meeting on 2014’s Men, Women & Children, which the Dune star’s scenes were cut out of. —Kirsten Chuba, HollywoodReporter, 16 Nov. 2025

For the finale, chairs and lights were rolled off the basketball court and suddenly the gym was a gym again. —Mary Pelloni, IndieWire, 16 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1891, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing basketball

• fantasy football/baseball/basketball

Rhymes for basketball

• aerosol
• alcohol
• arbitral
• butanol
• cannonball
• carbinol
• catarrhal
• cortisol
• ethanol
• fireball
• gasohol
• guaiacol

Kids Definition

basketball

noun

bas·​ket·​ball -ˌbȯl 

: a court game in which each of two teams tries to toss an inflated ball through a raised goal

also : the ball used in this game