grand slam

noun

1

baseball : a home run hit with the bases loaded

… the Dodgers' Eric Karros has a shot to become the first player in history to get 200 career home runs without a grand slam.

—Tim Kurkjian

2

a usually Grand Slam

(1)

: the winning of all four of the most significant championships in a particular sport in the same year

—used especially in tennis and golf

… with … Nadal spoiling Federer's bid for the Grand Slam by beating him on the clay at the French Open.

—Sean Gregory

"And so to St. Andrews to begin the quest for the Grand Slam," he [Bobby Jones] wrote.

—Dave Anderson

also : the winning of all four such championships during the course of one's career

Woods … could become the youngest player to win the career Grand Slam, at age 24.

—Clifton Brown

(2)

: one of the championships that comprise a Grand Slam : major entry 2 sense 6

"Last year she was a little hungrier," says Davenport's coach, Robert Van't Hof. "She hadn't won a Grand Slam yet."

—Diane K. Shah

—often used before another noun

a Grand Slam event/tournament

Graf was 17 when she won the first of her 21 Grand Slam titles here in 1987 …

—Robin Finn

b

: a clean sweep or total success

3

: the winning of all the tricks in one hand of a card game (such as bridge)

Once, looking over Grace's shoulder, I saw her make a grand slam in clubs when the highest trump card in her hand was the nine.

—William Maxwell

Examples of grand slam in a Sentence

He made a grand slam.

Recent Examples on the Web

Sinner – who achieved the unwanted record of becoming the first player in the Open era to win his first 20 sets of a men’s singles grand slam event and not win the title – looked understandably shellshocked afterward. —Jamie Barton, CNN Money, 8 June 2025

Mia Scott hit a grand slam, Teagan Kavan won again and Texas defeated Texas Tech 10-4 in Game 3 of the Women’s College World Series championship series Friday night to claim its first national title. —Cliff Brunt, Chicago Tribune, 7 June 2025

Eldridge, 20, joined the River Cats on the road and is already off to a hot start, reaching base three times in his first game and launching a grand slam the following night. —Evan Webeck, Mercury News, 6 June 2025

After his departure, Jorge Alcala served up a grand slam, which was Tyler Soderstrom’s second home run of the day. —Betsy Helfand, Twin Cities, 5 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1800, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Rhymes for grand slam

• abram
• ashram
• begam
• buckram
• doorjamb
• exam
• goddam
• grandam
• priam
• program
• programme
• wolfram

Kids Definition

grand slam

noun

: a home run hit with three runners on base