Meanings
nounbasketball (countable and uncountable, plural basketballs)
plural basketballs
- uncountablehobbiesA sport in which two opposing teams of five players strive to put a ball through a hoop.
to play basketball
2 more examples
He pursued basketball as his career.
Children playing basketball at their home in front of the John Amos coal-fired power plant in Poca, W.Va. President Biden’s infrastructure plan includes climate change measures that aim to close coal-fired plants.
2021 May 12, Emily Cochrane, “In Infrastructure Talks With Biden, Capito Faces Fraught Path to Deal”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 12 Aug 2021 - countableThe particular kind of ball used in the sport of basketball.
verbbasketball (third-person singular simple present basketballs, present participle basketballing, simple past and past participle basketballed)
present singular third person basketballs · participle present basketballing · participle past basketballed · past basketballed
- informalintransitiveTo play basketball.
by high school he was basketballing with the best of an all-Negro league
1968, Tom Tiede, Coward
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA sport in which two opposing teams of five players strive to put a ball through a hoop.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop
Similar
basketball gamehoops
Broader
court game
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Celtic*baskis
- Late Latinbascauda
- Anglo-Normanbascat
- Middle Englishbasket
- Englishbasket
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰel-
- Proto-Germanic*balluz
- Old English*beall
- Middle Englishbal
- Englishball
- Englishbasketball
Translations
Arabic كُرَة اَلسَّلَّة, كُرَة اَلسَّلَّة
- كُرَة اَلسَّلَّة (kurat as-salla)the ball used in the sport
- كُرَة اَلسَّلَّة (kurat as-salla)the sport
Basque saskibaloi
- saskibaloithe sport
Bengali বাস্কেটবল
- বাস্কেটবল (baskeṭbol)the sport
Bulgarian баскетболна топка, баскетбо́л
- баскетболна топка (basketbolna topka)the ball used in the sport
- баскетбо́л (basketból)the sport
Catalan bàsquet, basquetbol
- bàsquetthe sport
- basquetbolthe sport
Chinese Cantonese 籃球 /篮球, 籃球 /篮球
- 籃球 /篮球 (laam⁴ kau⁴)the ball used in the sport
- 籃球 /篮球 (laam⁴ kau⁴)the sport
Chinese Mandarin 籃球 /篮球, 籃球 /篮球
- 籃球 /篮球 (lánqiú)the ball used in the sport
- 籃球 /篮球 (lánqiú)the sport
Czech basketbal
- basketbalthe sport
Danish basketball, basketball
- basketballthe ball used in the sport
- basketballthe sport
Dutch basketbal, basketbal
- basketbalthe ball used in the sport
- basketbalthe sport
Esperanto korbopilkado, korbopilko
- korbopilkadothe sport
- korbopilkothe sport
- basketbalothe sport
Estonian korvpall, koss
- korvpallthe sport
- kossthe sport
Finnish koripallo, koripallo
- koripallothe ball used in the sport
- koripallothe sport
- koripalloiluthe sport
French basket-ball, basketball
- basket-ballthe sport
- basketballthe sport
- ballon-panierthe sport
German Basketball, Basketball
- Basketballthe ball used in the sport
- Basketballthe sport
Greek καλαθοσφαίριση, μπάσκετ
- καλαθοσφαίριση (kalathosfaírisi)the sport
- μπάσκετ (básket)the sport
Hebrew כַּדּוּר סַל, כַּדּוּרְסַל
- כַּדּוּר סַל (kadúr sál)the ball used in the sport
- כַּדּוּרְסַל (kadursál)the sport
Hindi बास्केटबॉल, बास्केटबाल
- बास्केटबॉल (bāskeṭbŏl)the sport
- बास्केटबाल (bāskeṭbāl)the sport
Hungarian kosárlabda, kosárlabda
- kosárlabdathe ball used in the sport
- kosárlabdathe sport
Icelandic körfubolti, körfubolti m körfuknattleikur
- körfuboltithe ball used in the sport
- körfubolti m körfuknattleikurthe sport
Indonesian bola basket
- bola basketthe sport
Irish cispheil
- cispheilthe sport
Italian pallacanestro, pallacesto
- pallacanestrothe sport
- pallacestothe sport
- palla al cerchiothe sport
- palla a spicchithe sport
- basketthe sport
Japanese バスケットボール, バスケットボール
- バスケットボール (basukettobōru)the ball used in the sport
- バスケットボール (basukettobōru)the sport
- バスケ (basuke)the sport
- 篭球 (rōkyū)the sport
- 籠球 (rōkyū)the sport
Korean 농구공, 농구
- 농구공 (nonggugong)the ball used in the sport
- 농구 (nonggu)the sport
- 롱구 (ronggu)the sport
- 바스켓볼 (baseuketbol)the sport
Latin canistrilūdium
- canistrilūdiumthe sport
Latvian basketbols
- basketbolsthe sport
Lithuanian krepšinis
- krepšinisthe sport
Malay bola keranjang
- bola keranjangthe sport
Māori poitūkohu
- poitūkohuthe sport
Norwegian Bokmål basketball
- basketballthe sport
Persian بسکتبال
- بسکتبال (basketbâl)the sport
Polish piłka do koszykówki, piłka koszykowa
- piłka do koszykówkithe ball used in the sport
- piłka koszykowathe ball used in the sport
- koszykówkathe sport
- piłka koszykowathe sport
- koszthe sport
Portuguese bola de basquete/basquetebol, basquete
- bola de basquete/basquetebolthe ball used in the sport
- basquetethe sport
- basquetebolthe sport
- bola ao cestothe sport
Romanian minge de baschet, baschetbal
- minge de baschetthe ball used in the sport
- baschetbalthe sport
- baschetthe sport
Russian баскетбо́льный мяч, баскетбо́л
- баскетбо́льный мяч (basketbólʹnyj mjač)the ball used in the sport
- баскетбо́л (basketból)the sport
Scottish Gaelic ball-basgaid, ball-basgaid
- ball-basgaidthe ball used in the sport
- ball-basgaidthe sport
Slovak basketbal
- basketbalthe sport
Spanish baloncesto, básquetbol
- baloncestothe sport
- básquetbolthe sport
- básquetthe sport
Swahili mpira wa kikapu
- mpira wa kikaputhe sport
Swedish basketboll, basket
- basketbollthe ball used in the sport
- basketthe sport
- korgbollthe sport
Tagalog basketbol
- basketbolthe sport
Tamil கூடைப்பந்து
- கூடைப்பந்து (kūṭaippantu)the sport
Thai บาสเกตบอล
- บาสเกตบอล (báas-gét-bɔl)the sport
Turkish basketbol topu, basketbol
- basketbol toputhe ball used in the sport
- basketbolthe sport
- basketthe sport
Ukrainian баскетбо́льний м'яч, м'яч до кошикі́вки
- баскетбо́льний м'яч (basketbólʹnyj mʺjač)the ball used in the sport
- м'яч до кошикі́вки (mʺjač do košykívky)the ball used in the sport
- баскетбо́л (basketból)the sport
- кошикі́вка (košykívka)the sport
Urdu باسکیٹ بال
- باسکیٹ بال (bāskeṭ bāl)the sport
Vietnamese bóng rổ
- bóng rổthe sport
Welsh pêl fasged, pêl-fasged
- pêl fasgedthe ball used in the sport
- pêl-fasgedthe sport
Yiddish באַסקעטבאָל, קוישבאָל
- באַסקעטבאָל (basketbol)the sport
- קוישבאָל (koyshbol)the sport
Cite this entry
APA
basketball. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/basketball
MLA
“basketball.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/basketball. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “basketball,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/basketball.
Source: basketball on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.