dribble

verb

drib·ble | \ ˈdri-bəl

dribbled; dribbling\ -(ə-)liŋ

Definition of dribble

(Entry 1 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to issue sporadically and in small bits

2 : to let or cause to fall in drops little by little

3a : to propel by successive slight taps or bounces with hand, foot, or stick dribble a basketball dribble a puck

b : to hit (a ball) without much force so that it bounces slowly along the ground

intransitive verb

1 : to fall or flow in drops or in a thin intermittent stream : trickle

2 : to let saliva trickle from the corner of the mouth : drool

3 : to come or issue in piecemeal or desultory fashion

4a : to dribble a ball or puck

b : to proceed by dribbling

c of a ball : to move with short bounces

dribble

noun

Definition of dribble (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : a tiny or insignificant bit or quantity

2 : a small trickling stream or flow

3 : an act, instance, or manner of dribbling a ball or puck

Other Words from dribble Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about dribble

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Other Words from dribble

Verb

dribbler \ -b(ə-)lər

\ noun

Noun

dribbly \ ˈdri-b(ə-)lē

\ adjective

Examples of dribble in a Sentence

Verb

Juice dribbled down his chin. She accidentally dribbled wine onto the rug. Dribble olive oil over the warm bread before serving. She dribbled across the basketball court. He skillfully dribbled the soccer ball towards the goal.

Noun

He wiped a dribble of juice from the corner of the baby's mouth. She gave the ball a dribble before passing it.

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Many players of his size and profile—5-foot-8 with a penchant for dribbling in busy areas—would be considered too slight and self-indulgent for the Premier League. — Joshua Robinson, WSJ, "The Premier League Was Supposed to be a Two-Team Race. But Chelsea Keeps Hanging Around.," 19 Oct. 2018 Emblematic of his quiet offensive night, Curry came dribbling in alone for a fast-break dunk, but slipped and fell, drawing gasps from the crowd. — Beth Harris, The Seattle Times, "Thompson hits first 10 from 3, Warriors beat Lakers 130-111," 22 Jan. 2019 Rapinoe corralled the ball, dribbled it to the corner of the six-yard box then somehow nailed it, left-footed, into the net’s upper-left corner—a seemingly impossible angle. — Rachel Bachman, WSJ, "Rock Star U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Makes World Cup," 15 Oct. 2018 Harrison Bader’s dribbling single to the left side leading off the sixth inning broke up the Padres’ perfection, but Cimber got Yairo Munoz on a double-play grounder and struck out pinch-hitter Dexter Fowler on three pitches to end the inning. — Kevin Acee, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Padres bullpen beats Cardinals to even series," 12 June 2018 With the game tied, Ogunbowale took the inbounds pass and dribbled to the corner, hitting the game-winner. — baltimoresun.com, "Ogunbowale's 3-pointer in final second lifts Notre Dame over Miss. State for NCAA women's title, 61-58," 2 Apr. 2018 Ogunbowale took the inbound, dribbled to her right along the sideline and fired the shot off with her defender chasing. — Jr Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Arike Ogunbowale hits three-pointer at buzzer to lift Notre Dame to national title," 1 Apr. 2018 Dambrot was in the process of salvaging his reputation when Dru Joyce III’s father got word of this coach who made players dribble with two balls at once and spent a strange amount of time focused on the intricate mechanics of footwork. — Ben Cohen, WSJ, "How LeBron James Gave His First Coach a Second Chance," 20 Nov. 2018 For the same reason, normal companies are careful to release the full details on a proposal like this all at once instead of dribbling the information out one tweet at a time. — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "Report: Feds investigating whether Musk’s buyout tweet broke the law," 8 Aug. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

So this week's scoops are more of the same dribble. — Fox News, "Gutfeld: It's the cry babies vs. the jerk," 8 Sep. 2018 But in order to shine a light on these historic dribbles and blobs, the first step was to plunge them into complete darkness. — Tom Avril, Philly.com, "Scans reveal secrets of medieval 'Harry Potter' book and medical texts at Penn," 14 May 2018 McCain's memoir is out later this month and is getting leaked in dribbles. — Amber Phillips, Washington Post, "John McCain is poking Trump where it hurts this week," 10 May 2018 His rate goes up in the playoffs in covering for teammates who have been beaten off the dribble or screened. — Bill Livingston, cleveland.com, "Cleveland Cavaliers 2018: Playoff LeBron must shore up the leaky defense -- Bill Livingston (photos)," 15 Apr. 2018 In his last great run, Ronaldinho carried Atletico with his superb passes and dazzling dribbles to second place in the 2012 Brazilian Championship. — USA TODAY, "Agent: World Cup winner Ronaldinho has retired," 16 Jan. 2018 The speedy forward, bought from Flamengo, is known for his nifty dribbles. — Tales Azzoni, The Seattle Times, "Real Madrid teen bitten on head in youth game," 3 Sep. 2018 Minutes later, Curry, who had fumbled his dribble with the shot clock expiring, dropped another majestic three-pointer over Kevin Love. — Usa Today Sports, USA TODAY, "Steph Curry sets Finals three-point record as Warriors take 2-0 lead," 3 June 2018 With about 13 minutes remaining in the first half of MU’s eventual SEC Tournament loss to Georgia, Porter brought the basketball up court, lost his dribble and asked for the ball back from Kevin Puryear, who picked it up off the floor. — Aaron Reiss, kansascity, "Michael Porter Jr. must avoid these shots in Mizzou's NCAA Tournament game vs. FSU | The Kansas City Star," 13 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dribble.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.