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

His nephew, Mike Lindsay, a former football and basketball player at Bishop Alemany who was considered a late bloomer to football, was starting at cornerback for San Diego State. — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026

Wyatt Lohaus is joining the Kings as an assistant video coordinator after spending the 2025-26 season as a fellow with the Mississippi State men’s basketball program. — Jason Anderson, Sacbee.com, 14 Sep. 2026

Kansas men’s basketball will play a pair of ESPN Big Monday contests during the upcoming season, the Big 12 Conference announced Monday. — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 14 Sep. 2026

The agreement changed the conference’s media-rights distribution model to favor schools that generated larger television audiences for football and men’s basketball, while dramatically reducing the cost of leaving the ACC. — Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 14 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing basketball

• fantasy football/baseball/basketball

Rhymes for basketball

• aerosol
• alcohol
• arbitral
• butanol
• cannonball
• carbinol
• cortisol
• ethanol
• fireball
• gasohol
• gossypol
• 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