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View synonyms for slam dunk

slam dunk

1

noun

  1. Basketball. a particularly forceful, often dramatic dunk shot.
  2. Slang. something regarded as certain to occur or be accomplished, typically something desirable that requires little further effort:

    The election is starting to look like a slam dunk for our side.



slam-dunk

2

[ slam-duhngk ]

verb (used with object)

  1. Basketball. to dunk (the ball) with great force.

slam dunk

noun

  1. basketball a scoring shot in which a player jumps up and forces the ball down through the basket
  2. informal.
    a task so easy that success in it is deemed a certainty
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


verb

  1. basketball to jump up and force (a ball) through a basket
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Other Words From

  • slam dunker noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of slam dunk1

First recorded in 1975–80
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Idioms and Phrases

A forceful, dramatic move, as in That indictment was a slam dunk if ever there was one . This expression is also often put as a verb, slam-dunk , meaning “make a forceful move against someone,” as in This is a great chance for us to slam-dunk the opposition . The idiom comes from basketball, where it refers to a dramatic shot in which the ball is thrust into the basket from above the rim. It was transferred to other activities from about 1980 on.
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Example Sentences

That may be, but experts say that “similarities” to other attacks is hardly a slam dunk.

And the information that the FBI has presented so far strikes many experts as hardly a slam dunk against Pyongyang.

Apparently, 2016 is not shaping up as a Democratic slam dunk.

Even as a Democrat, I am rooting for the GOP to seize this slam-dunk opportunity.

For Best Actor in a Musical, Neil Patrick Harris seems like a slam dunk for Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

He always looks like he's about to slam-dunk your ass, and he's really into raising his voice for dramatic effect.

Kurt said that the anarchist bookstore would be a slam dunk, but it turned out to be the hardest sell of all.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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