plural volleys
1
a(1)
: the flight of the ball (as in volleyball or tennis) or its course before striking the ground
also
: a return of the ball before it touches the ground
(2)
: a kick of the ball in soccer before it rebounds
(3)
: the exchange of the shuttlecock in badminton following the serve
b
: a flight of missiles (such as arrows)
c
: simultaneous discharge of a number of missile weapons
d
: one round per gun in a battery fired as soon as a gun is ready without regard to order
2
a
: a burst or emission of many things or a large amount at once
received a volley of angry letters
b
: a burst of simultaneous or immediately sequential nerve impulses passing to an end organ, synapse, or center
volleyed; volleying
1
: to propel (an object) while in the air and before touching the ground
especially
: to hit (a tennis ball) on the volley
2
: to discharge in or as if in a volley
1
: to make a volley
specifically
: to volley an object of play (as in tennis)
2
: to become discharged in or as if in a volley
volleyer
noun
Synonyms
Examples of volley in a Sentence
Noun
The tank was hit by a volley of bullets.
She was overwhelmed by a volley of questions from the press.
Verb
She volleyed the shot over the net.
Recent Examples on the Web
Ben Church, CNN, 10 Apr. 2024
Susman hopes that the latest volley of State Farm cancellations will put more pressure on the Department of Insurance to speed up the process.
—Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2024
The move to open-source chatbot code is the latest volley between Mr. Musk and ChatGPT’s creator, OpenAI, which the mercurial billionaire sued recently over breaking its promise to do the same.
—Cade Metz, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2024
Meanwhile, the opening volley in its battle against one of America’s favorite companies is a killer start, not least in part because of an unusual degree of lawyerly insight into the human psyche.
—Sarah Jeong, The Verge, 22 Mar. 2024
McBride fired in three volleys of two shots each — all in less than seven seconds.
—Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2024
Completed mere weeks before the season began, clad in stone and freshly hewn timber, this volley across the bow of the super-chalet market came from Purple Ski.
—Tom Weijand, Robb Report, 15 Feb. 2024
Alcaraz nailed some winners, while Nadal revved up his serves and managed to tie it up at 9-9 with a volley that brought the crowd to its feet.
—Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Mar. 2024
But the volley of gunfire continued, sending paradegoers sprinting away from the sound of gunfire.
—Hyojung Kim, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2024
Leif Wenar, WIRED, 2 Apr. 2024
Goodwin got onto the scoreboard first just before half-time, however, volleying a powerful strike into the net after Nathaniel Atkinson had broken clear on the wing and chipped back across the box.
—Issy Ronald, CNN, 3 Feb. 2024
On Tuesday, following her straight sets win over France’s Clara Burel, Wozniacki, 33, spoke out about the Romanian’s return — and Halep, 32, volleyed right back with her own comments.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 20 Mar. 2024
This banter volleyed across the court quickly between the man on the fence and his target, who returned serves and hit forehands and walked to retrieve tennis balls only feet away from the color commentary.
—Rembert Browne, Los Angeles Times, 15 Nov. 2023
The judges hearing Wednesday’s arguments volleyed between skepticism and sympathy for Aidala and his counterpart from the district attorney’s office, appellate chief, Steven Wu.
—Michael R. Sisak, Fortune, 15 Feb. 2024
After a tying goal from Argentina was erased by an offside call, Shaw doubled the lead, volleying home a Rose Lavelle cross from the center of the box in the 17th minute.
—Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 24 Feb. 2024
Google Google and Sonos have been volleying patent infringement lawsuits back and forth for a few years now.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 11 Oct. 2023
On the resulting free kick, Costa drove a low, left-footed shot into the box that Chicago’s Carlos Terán headed down, but the ball took one bounce to Boyd, who volleyed it in with a sweeping left-footed shot for this third goal in his last four MLS games.
—Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2023
Noun
The 14-time European champion eventually found it through Federico Valverde, who struck a superb volley into the corner of the net in the 79th minute.
—Ben Church, CNN, 10 Apr. 2024
Susman hopes that the latest volley of State Farm cancellations will put more pressure on the Department of Insurance to speed up the process.
—Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2024
The move to open-source chatbot code is the latest volley between Mr. Musk and ChatGPT’s creator, OpenAI, which the mercurial billionaire sued recently over breaking its promise to do the same.
—Cade Metz, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2024
Meanwhile, the opening volley in its battle against one of America’s favorite companies is a killer start, not least in part because of an unusual degree of lawyerly insight into the human psyche.
—Sarah Jeong, The Verge, 22 Mar. 2024
McBride fired in three volleys of two shots each — all in less than seven seconds.
—Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2024
Completed mere weeks before the season began, clad in stone and freshly hewn timber, this volley across the bow of the super-chalet market came from Purple Ski.
—Tom Weijand, Robb Report, 15 Feb. 2024
Alcaraz nailed some winners, while Nadal revved up his serves and managed to tie it up at 9-9 with a volley that brought the crowd to its feet.
—Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Mar. 2024
But the volley of gunfire continued, sending paradegoers sprinting away from the sound of gunfire.
—Hyojung Kim, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2024
Verb
Judges and lawyers, victims and defendants—all volleyed slurs and accusations at one another.
—Leif Wenar, WIRED, 2 Apr. 2024
Goodwin got onto the scoreboard first just before half-time, however, volleying a powerful strike into the net after Nathaniel Atkinson had broken clear on the wing and chipped back across the box.
—Issy Ronald, CNN, 3 Feb. 2024
On Tuesday, following her straight sets win over France’s Clara Burel, Wozniacki, 33, spoke out about the Romanian’s return — and Halep, 32, volleyed right back with her own comments.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 20 Mar. 2024
This banter volleyed across the court quickly between the man on the fence and his target, who returned serves and hit forehands and walked to retrieve tennis balls only feet away from the color commentary.
—Rembert Browne, Los Angeles Times, 15 Nov. 2023
The judges hearing Wednesday’s arguments volleyed between skepticism and sympathy for Aidala and his counterpart from the district attorney’s office, appellate chief, Steven Wu.
—Michael R. Sisak, Fortune, 15 Feb. 2024
After a tying goal from Argentina was erased by an offside call, Shaw doubled the lead, volleying home a Rose Lavelle cross from the center of the box in the 17th minute.
—Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 24 Feb. 2024
Google Google and Sonos have been volleying patent infringement lawsuits back and forth for a few years now.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 11 Oct. 2023
On the resulting free kick, Costa drove a low, left-footed shot into the box that Chicago’s Carlos Terán headed down, but the ball took one bounce to Boyd, who volleyed it in with a sweeping left-footed shot for this third goal in his last four MLS games.
—Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'volley.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near volley
Cite this Entry
“Volley.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/volley. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
volley
1 of 2 noun
vol·ley
ˈväl-ē 
plural volleys
1
: a group of missiles (as arrows or bullets) passing through the air
2
: a firing of a number of weapons (as rifles) at the same time
3
: a bursting forth of many things at once
a volley of praise
4
: the act of volleying
volley
2 of 2 verb
volleyed; volleying
1
: to shoot in a volley
2
: to hit an object (as a ball) while it is in the air before it touches the ground
Medical Definition
volley
noun
vol·ley
ˈväl-ē
plural volleys
: a burst of simultaneous or immediately sequential nerve impulses passing to an end organ, synapse, or center
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