full-court press

noun

1
: a press employed in basketball on both halves of the court
2
: an all-out effort or offensive

Examples of full-court press in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The Wolves went to a full-court press which led to steals and dunks on the other end. Nathan Canilao, The Mercury News, 1 Feb. 2024 The Musketeers came out in a full-court press after the first media timeout and Karaban knocked down a 3-pointer at the 13:59 mark and UConn led by double digits for the remainder of the afternoon. Shelby Dermer, The Enquirer, 29 Jan. 2024 In all seriousness, money would be no object if team owner Arthur Blank puts on the full-court press to get Belichick. Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 11 Jan. 2024 But Dubai is clearly sensitive to financial pressure, as evidenced by its full-court press to get off the FATF and EU gray lists. John Prendergast, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2024 The Monarchs were the faster, stronger team against Orange Lutheran, were dominant under the basket and gave the Lancers trouble with their signature full-court press. Lou Ponsi, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024 The Eagles shot extremely well, out rebounded Dunbar, and used a smothering full-court press to create steals and force turnovers. Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Feb. 2024 The zone, which focused on protecting the rim and minimizing clean three-point opportunities while speeding things up with its full-court press element, forced the Wizards to take 17 non-rim two-point shots (13 non-rim paint shots and four non-paint twos) in the second half. Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 3 Feb. 2024 New Town ran a full-court press for the rest of the game, which caused Sparrows Point to scramble. Jake Shindel, Baltimore Sun, 27 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'full-court press.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1949, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of full-court press was in 1949

Dictionary Entries Near full-court press

Cite this Entry

“Full-court press.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/full-court%20press. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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