forehand

play

noun fore·hand \ ˈfȯr-ˌhand \

Definition of forehand

1 archaic :superior position :advantage

2 :the part of a horse that is before the rider

3 :a forehand stroke (as in tennis or racquets); also :the side on which such strokes are made

See forehand defined for English-language learners

See forehand defined for kids

Examples of forehand in a Sentence

She hit a forehand across the court.

Recent Examples of forehand from the Web

When Nadal stepped onto the scene as a scrappy teenage clay-court specialist, his name was practically ubiquitous with a killer lefty forehand and past-the-knee shorts.

— olivia bahou, PEOPLE.com, "Rafael Nadal Finally Explains Why His Tennis Shorts Keep Shrinking," 28 Aug. 2017
Kwiatkowski’s weapons are the forehand and above-average movement.

— rick bonnell, charlotteobserver, "Charlotte’s connection to next week’s U.S. Open tennis tournament is...," 21 Aug. 2017
A medical timeout for Čilić before the start of the third seemed only to delay the inevitable, as Federer broke serve at 3-3 after Čilić, well resigned to his fate, clunked another forehand into the net.

— arnav adhikari, The Atlantic, "Federer’s Wimbledon Win Was Anything but Nostalgic," 17 July 2017
The down-the-line forehand passing winner that landed right on the opposite baseline in the second set, leaving Berdych slumping his shoulders.

— howard fendrich, courant.com, "Into 11th Wimbledon final, Federer faces Cilic for 8th title," 14 July 2017
Myers scored on a beautiful backhand-forehand move against Matej Tomek, who is heading back to the USHL, hopefully to find his mojo after spending most of last season on the University of North Dakota’s bench.

— sam donnellon, Philly.com, "Dave Hakstol likes 'completeness' of Oskar Lindblom's game," 11 July 2017
Could be a lot of running required Monday, given the 134th-ranked Bublik's penchant for sliced returns, drop shots, lobs and runaround forehands from midcourt.

— howard fendrich, courant.com, "A Lot Going On For Murray As Wimbledon Defense Begins," 2 July 2017
To keep your concentration is way more important than how good your forehand is or how good your serve is.

— alex belth, Esquire, "John McEnroe: "In Retrospect, Self-Sabotage Is a Bad Way of Humbling Yourself."," 27 June 2017
According to Deadspin, the reason for the infraction could have been due to that same umpire giving him a penalty earlier in the match: At 4-4 in the set, Klein hit a forehand wide to lose his serve and go down 5-4.

— charles curtis, USA TODAY, "Player loses match by yelling 'stupid person!'," 16 June 2017

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

Illustration of forehand

First Known Use of forehand

1557

forehand

adjective

Definition of forehand

1 obsolete :done or given in advance :prior

2 :made with the palm of the hand turned in the direction in which the hand is moving

a forehand tennis stroke

First Known Use of forehand

1599

forehand

adverb

Definition of forehand

:with a forehand stroke

First Known Use of forehand

1925

FOREHAND Defined for English Language Learners

forehand

play

noun

Definition of forehand for English Language Learners

sports : a way of hitting a ball in tennis and similar games in which the palm of the hand holding the racket is turned in the direction of the ball