smack dab
Americanadverb
Etymology
Origin of smack dab
First recorded in 1890–95; smack 2 ( def. ) (in the sense “directly, straight”) + dab 1 ( def. ) (in the sense “a quick, light blow,” used adverbially)
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.
For the last few days, smack dab in the middle of his long-awaited breakthrough at USC, Arenas was sick.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026
Done a couple of psychological thrillers, “Just Cause” and “Asunder”, but nothing that is smack dab in that genre of horror.
From Salon • Jul. 20, 2024
Among the cities smack dab in the action: Dallas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis, Cleveland; Buffalo, New York; and Montreal — making for the continent’s biggest eclipse crowd.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 12, 2024
And smack dab in the middle, sits Disney World.
From Slate • May 2, 2023
The farm we lived on was called Cherokee land because it was smack dab in the middle of the Cherokee Nation.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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.
