volley
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A shot in which the ball is played before it hits the ground.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vahleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈvɑli
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.
noun
sports
A shot in which the ball is played before it hits the ground.
sports
A tennis return made by hitting the ball before it bounces
sports
The flight of a ball just before it bounces.
A burst or emission of many things at once.
The simultaneous firing of a number of missiles or bullets; the projectiles so fired.
verb
sportstransitive
To hit the ball before it touches the ground
To sound together
Discharge in, or as if in, a volley
“The attackers volleyed gunshots at the civilians.”
Be dispersed in a volley
“Gun shots volleyed at the attackers.”
transitive
To fire a volley of shots
intransitive
To be fired in a volley
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A shot in which the ball is played before it hits the ground.
Used this way, volley 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
- Matter-of-fact
- 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.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Dischargeverb
“The attackers volleyed gunshots at the civilians.”
Dispersedverb
“Gun shots volleyed at the attackers.”
More ways to use volley
- “The attackers volleyed gunshots at the civilians.”verb
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A tennis return made by hitting the ball immediately after it bounces.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Keep learning “volley” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.
- Practice sentence writingWrite sentences with vocabulary and get instant feedback.
- Practice in contextAnswer short vocabulary questions drawn from real situations.
- Review vocabularyTest your recall and strengthen words over time.
- Practice typingType vocabulary from meanings, examples and other prompts.
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.