dunk

Pronunciation: /dʌŋk/

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a basketball shot in which the basketball is propelled downward into the basket
  2. verb immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate
  3. verb make a dunk shot, in basketball

Etymology

From Pennsylvania German dunke, from Middle High German dunken, from Old High German dunkōn (“to dip, submerge, dunk”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunkōn (“to make wet”), possibly from Proto-Germanic *þunkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to moisten, wet”). Cognate with German tunken (“to dunk”), Latin tingō (“to wet, moisten”), Ancient Greek τέγγω (téngō, “to wet, moisten”). Related to taint, tincture, tint.

Synonyms

dunk shot, stuff shot

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
basketball shot
Narrower (hyponyms)
slam dunk

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