sweet spot

noun

plural sweet spots

1

sports : the area around the center of mass of a bat, a racket, or the head of a club that is the most effective part with which to hit a ball

If the bat connects near its sweet spot … it vibrates very little, much as a tennis racket feels solid if you hit the ball on the racket's sweet spot.

—Sharon Begley

The shape of the clubhead has a pronounced effect on [golf] shots that are not hit out of the sweet spot of the club …

—Steen Winther

2

: an ideal or most favorable location, level, area, or combination of factors for a particular activity or purpose

Many doctors have concluded that there is something of a sweet spot on the age-education-experience continuum. They seek out clinicians who are no more than 10 years out of residency, old enough to have some mileage, young enough to be up to speed.

—Nancy Gibbs et al.

To seafood men, Fulton is the jewel of the Atlantic coast, the sweet spot on the seaboard, and the best fish from Maine to Florida rolls into the markets in refrigerated trucks.

—Jonathan Gold

"We are considering a lot of options with the site," says Zach Nelson, executive vice president of marketing. "I think we are right in the sweet spot of what's required to make e-business happen."

—Daniel Roth

The winery in Rutherford, best known for its loamy Cabernet Sauvignon, has a sweet spot of 8 acres for Chardonnay, which has produced spectacular wines.

—James Laube

Examples of sweet spot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While companies can now recreate a person's voice from snippets of old home movies or even a one-minute voicemail, 30 minutes is the sweet spot. —April Dembosky, NPR, 22 July 2025

On a recent Sunday, the kid’s activities center also featured a marionette puppet show, crafts and games A new sweet spot in town is Petals Creamery, located at 5 N. Santa Cruz Ave. —Debby Rice, Mercury News, 22 July 2025

For cocktail professionals building multi-ingredient drinks where a number of flavors jockey for position, 100 proof is fast becoming the sweet spot. —Andy Vasoyan, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025

Knob Creek stands out from these as being a lineup of 100-proof bourbon (nine years old) and rye (seven years old), along with some excellent single barrel expressions and limited-edition age statements including 12, 15, and 18 years (the 15 is the sweet spot). —Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 21 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1919, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for sweet spot

• allot
• barat
• begot
• besought
• bethought
• bloodshot
• boycott
• buckshot
• crackpot
• croat
• culottes
• dashpot