punt
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To kick a ball dropped from the hands before it hits the ground.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
puhntIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpʌnt
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
(rugby, American football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, soccer, transitive, intransitive) To kick a ball dropped from the hands before it hits the ground. (This puts the ball farther from the goal across which the opposing team is attempting to score, so improves the chances of the team punting.)
To dropkick; to kick something a considerable distance.
figuratively
To make a highly speculative investment or other commitment, or take a wild guess.
To play at basset, baccara, faro, etc.
AustraliaIrelandNew ZealandUK
To stake against the bank, to back a horse, to gamble or take a chance more generally
colloquialtransitive
To eject; to kick out of a place.
noun
rugbyAmerican footballsoccer
A kick made by a player who drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground.
A point in the game of faro.
The act of playing at basset, baccara, faro, etc.
A bet or wager.
Australia
Gambling, as a pastime, especially betting on horseraces or the dogs.
A highly speculative investment or other commitment.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (rugby, American football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, soccer, transitive, intransitive) To kick a ball dropped from the hands before it hits the ground. (This puts the ball farther from the goal across which the opposing team is attempting to score, so improves the chances of the team punting.)
Used this way, punt is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a sporting use: familiar to anyone who follows the game, and puzzling to anyone who does not.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Sports
- News/reporting
- Everyday conversation
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use punt
- “The team had to punt the ball away after failing to get a first down.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A kick in which the football is dropped from the hands and kicked before it touches the ground.
Someone who propels a boat with a pole.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Formerly the basic unit of money in Ireland.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.