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dunk

verb · noun

Simple meaning

Immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

duhngk
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdʌŋk

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. Immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate

  2. transitive

    To submerge briefly in a liquid.

  3. ambitransitivebasketball

    To put the ball directly downward through the hoop while grabbing onto the rim with power.

  4. transitive

    To set down carelessly.

noun

  1. The act or instance of dunking, particularly in basketball.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate

Used this way, dunk is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use dunk

  • “She dunked the piece of bread in the sauce.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Make / basketball

dunk shot

Locality

montagu dunk

Other combinations

dunk tankvan dunkdunk contest

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • dunk shotnounCompound term

    A basketball shot in which the basketball is propelled downward into the basket.

  • slam-dunkverbCompound term

    Make a forceful move against.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.