full-court press

noun

ˈfu̇l-ˈkȯrt- 

1

: a press employed in basketball on both halves of the court

2

: an all-out effort or offensive

Examples of full-court press in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The final score would have been closer had Miles not rolled the dice with a full-court press that the Aztecs burned for easy baskets. —Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Dec. 2025

Now as the Monogram marks its 130th anniversary, Vuitton is plotting a full-court press throughout 2026 around the motif’s origins, when the founder’s son Georges deposited a sample square at The Paris Archives in 1896. —Miles Socha, Footwear News, 30 Dec. 2025

But after a sluggish start, Fremont used a trapping full-court press to come within six points of Granada’s advantage in the second quarter. —Nathan Canilao, Mercury News, 21 Dec. 2025

Perhaps the Nittany Lions could consider putting a full-court press on either Kalen DeBoer or Lincoln Riley. —Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1949, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for full-court press

• abs
• acquiesce
• ancestress
• authoress
• coalesce
• decompress
• dispossess
• faithfulness
• letterpress
• mayoress
• murderess
• nonetheless