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

Six years prior, Jones, then a dual-sport athlete at the University of North Carolina, won an NCAA basketball championship and was on the court as a freshman point guard when teammate Charlotte Smith hit one of the biggest shots in college basketball history. —Jason Jones, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2025

More Christian Petersen/Getty Images The Aces have won their third WNBA title in the last four years, behind another dominant season from the best women's basketball player in the world, A'ja Wilson. —Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Oct. 2025

The dawn of new basketball and hockey seasons are upon us as well. —Ed Lavandera, CNN Money, 11 Oct. 2025

Asked if basketball had finally arrived in Vegas, Davis said the sport had buried its anchor in the Nevada desert years ago. —Barry M. Bloom, Sportico.com, 11 Oct. 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