field goal

noun

Definition of field goal

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

Washington, a forward, player four minutes and made his only field goal attempt. — Tom Groeschen, Cincinnati.com, "Cincinnati Bearcats: Caupain leading former UC players in NBA Summer League," 10 July 2018 A season ago, Missouri was third in the Southeastern Conference in made three-pointers, fourth in three-point field goal attempts and third in three-point shooting percentage, so taking and making shots from deep won’t be an adjustment. — Aaron Reiss, kansascity, "Now playing for Mizzou women's basketball: an entire lineup of three-point shooters," 1 July 2018 As far as place-kicking, senior Yoon is a reliable 42 of 52 in his career for field goal attempts and didn’t miss any extra points last season. — Laken Litman, Indianapolis Star, "Insider: Projecting Notre Dame football's 2018 depth chart," 29 June 2018 But that 48-point, 39-shot performance against Oklahoma State triggered a backlash that seemingly affected Young, who went out three days later against Kansas and had just nine field goal attempts, scoring 26 points in a win. — Dan Wolken, USA TODAY, "Why Atlanta is betting on stardom for new point guard Trae Young," 26 June 2018 Dario Saric grabbed some of the lumber with 17 field goal attempts. — Ed Barkowitz, Philly.com, "Joel Embiid on skirmish: Terry Rozier's too short," 9 May 2018 In addition to strong 3-point shooting, Oregon State makes 53.2 percent of its 2-point field goal attempts and averages 19.1 assists per game. — Danielle Lerner, The Courier-Journal, "Five things to know about Louisville's Elite Eight opponent: Oregon State," 24 Mar. 2018 A week before taking on Nebraska in Lincoln, Wagner put the rest of his perimeter game on display, showing up every player Michigan State threw at him by scoring 27 points on just 13 field goal attempts in a critical road win in East Lansing. — Nick Baumgardner, Detroit Free Press, "Michigan basketball: Moritz Wagner's adjustments have U-M surging," 28 Feb. 2018 Robinson made all five of his field goal attempts in the second half. — Lary Bump, Houston Chronicle, "TCU holds off Baylor in Big 12 tilt," 24 Feb. 2018

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