sandbag
Americanverb (used with object)
-
sandbags,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sandbagged,
past participle, past
-
sandbagging
present participle
-
to furnish with sandbags.
-
to hit or stun with a sandbag.
-
Informal.
-
to set upon violently; attack from or as if from ambush.
-
to coerce or intimidate, as by threats.
The election committee was sandbagged into nominating the officers for a second term.
-
to thwart or cause to fail or be rejected, especially surreptitiously or without warning.
He sandbagged our proposal with his snide remarks to the boss.
-
-
-
Poker. to deceive (one or more opponents) into remaining in the pot by refraining from betting on a strong hand, then raising the bet in a later round.
-
Informal. to gain an advantage over (one or more competitors) by concealing one's abilities or other strengths early in a game or other competitive activity.
-
Informal. to gain an advantage by concealing or downplaying the strengths of (something).
companies that sandbag their earnings estimates and then easily beat them to make everyone happy.
-
verb (used without object)
-
sandbags,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sandbagged,
past participle, past
-
sandbagging
present participle
noun
-
a sack filled with sand used for protection against gunfire, floodwater, etc, or as ballast in a balloon, ship, etc
-
a bag filled with sand and used as a weapon
verb
-
to protect or strengthen with sandbags
-
to hit with or as if with a sandbag
-
finance to obstruct (an unwelcome takeover bid) by prolonging talks in the hope that an acceptable bidder will come forward
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sandbagsimple
-
sandbagssimple
-
have sandbaggedperfect
-
has sandbaggedperfect
-
am sandbaggingprogressive
-
are sandbaggingprogressive
-
is sandbaggingprogressive
-
have been sandbaggingperfect progressive
-
has been sandbaggingperfect progressive
Past
-
sandbaggedsimple
-
had sandbaggedperfect
-
was sandbaggingprogressive
-
were sandbaggingprogressive
-
had been sandbaggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sandbag
Explanation
A sandbag is a big bag of sand. If a hurricane is coming, chuck a sandbag or two by the beach house to keep the water out. Also, to sandbag someone is to trick or bully them into doing something. Sand is inexpensive and heavy, which is why sandbags are used for jobs like protecting vehicles and buildings during bombings or storms, or balancing the total weight on a boat. When you use sandbag as a verb, it either means to protect with sandbags or to deceive or coerce someone to get something you want. When you pretend that you're terrible at basketball just so you can beat your cousin in one-on-one, you sandbag her.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
County’s map of free sandbag distribution sites can be found here.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
The company’s global events can draw tens of thousands of athletes, testing their strength and endurance as they cycle through challenges like rowing, sandbag lunges, sled pushes and burpees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Do I have a sandbag to rest my head on while all this melee is happening around me?'
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Ultimately, Bertrand removes a 50-pound sandbag from the counterweight bin, tightens the sling, and realigns the wooden trough.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025
And while his body was stiff as a sandbag, you could almost see him dancing inside it.
From "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
Further southeast, in the On Nut neighbourhood, AFP reporters saw locals wading through knee-high flood waters along a road, as well as filling up sandbags to take home.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
When the morning finally wrapped up and the temperature started to climb, participants stacked their sandbags into a towering formation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
“It’s the equivalent of putting a few sandbags out once the flood has already started,” George Catrambone, Americas head of fixed income at DWS Group, said of the beefed-up buyback plan.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
Hick said Syston residents could also do their bit by cleaning their gullies and drains now and again in autumn when leaves begin to drop and consider flood barriers, sandbags and tarpaulins for their properties.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
The streets are nothing but boarded windows and sandbags.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
As the group traveled through Kyiv in armored vehicles, she said, they witnessed signs of an active war, from sandbagged shelters to burned-out cars and memorials to those killed.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2024
"The president called to check on me. I told him I got sandbagged," McConnell joked to reporters, referencing President Joe Biden's explanation for his fall last month.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2023
The hallmarks of a wartime capital, though, were unmistakable: sandbagged statuary, rusted “hedgehog” tank traps, checkpoints on roads leading to the city.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2023
"Rather than wait for any response from the defense, the government sandbagged the process, filing this letter at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening," Bankman-Fried's lawyers wrote.
From Reuters ● Jan. 28, 2023
The ground-floor windows had been sandbagged, and every skylight cemented over.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Starting any new car company in America, let alone an electric one, requires uncanny maneuvering and persistence against every kind of bureaucratic, regulatory and political sandbagging.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Institute experts also looked at the possibility of models "sandbagging" - or strategically hiding their true capabilities from testers.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2025
In a further sandbagging of any big-city swagger Seattle has left, its citizens will have to drive to a Walgreens near suburban Issaquah if they need a pharmacist’s help in the wee hours.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 1, 2023
Emergency authorities received 50 calls for assistance, mostly for sandbagging of properties and help plugging leaking roofs, from residents in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales state, due to Sunday's deluge.
From Reuters ● Apr. 2, 2023
The sandbagging on the ground-floor windows was reinforced, and civilian contractors were on the roofs checking the firmness of the chimney stacks and the concreted skylights.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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.
