field goal

noun

1

: a score of three points in football made by drop-kicking or placekicking the ball over the crossbar from ordinary play

2

: a goal in basketball made while the ball is in play

Examples of field goal in a Sentence

He kicked a 20-yard field goal.

Recent Examples on the Web

James already has the NBA regular season records for most games (1,622) and minutes (61,030) played, as well as career points (43,440) and field goals made (15,961) and attempted (31,502). — Tim Casey, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026

Cardoso had the most field goals without a miss in league history and also grabbed eight rebounds as Chicago (5-12) won back-to-back games for the first time since May 9-13. — CBS News, 27 June 2026

Cardoso had the most field goals without a miss in league history and also grabbed eight rebounds as Chicago (5-12) won back-to-back games for the first time since May 9-13. — ABC News, 26 June 2026

While Nico O’Reilly hit the woodwork, Kane hit a field goal instead of an actual goal and Marc Guehi had a header cleared off the line, Ghana looked sporadically and worryingly dangerous in the second half in Boston. — James Horncastle, New York Times, 24 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1883, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for field goal

• bankroll
• bedroll
• borehole
• cajole
• catchpole
• charcoal
• condole
• control
• dipole
• downhole
• enroll
• extol

Kids Definition

field goal

noun

1

: a score of three points in football made by kicking the ball over the crossbar during ordinary play

2

: basket sense 3b