To dunk on someone is to humiliate or decisively defeat them, from the basketball move where a player slams the ball through the hoop over a defender.
The phrase implies public dominance—making someone look foolish or incompetent: She dunked on him in the debate.
Common in online discourse for any instance of someone being thoroughly owned or embarrassed.
1. basketball — slam, Forceful impact or closure; posterize (Dunk over someone embarrassingly); jam (Cooked fruit spread); alley-oop (Aerial pass-to-dunk play); throwdown · flush · tomahawk · windmill · reverse · rim · backboard · breakaway · lob · finish
2. mockery — roast, Dry-heat cooking method; clown (Comedic performer in makeup); own (Have legal title to); destroy (Cause complete ruin); humiliate · embarrass · shame · ridicule · mock · burn · drag · ratio · demolish · obliterate
Opposites
dominance/humiliationdunk on ≠ bow down to; take the L
forcefulness of actiondunk on ≠ finger roll Underhand layup with spin; lay up · floater · bank shot · teardrop · brick
social interaction styledunk on ≠ praise Expression of approval; uplift · hype up · compliment · build up · gas up
Categories
teasing: tease, teasing, rib, ribbing, josh; mocking: mock, ridicule, tease, taunt, jeer; basketball slang: airball, alley-oop, ankle breaker, baller, ballin
Family
dunk, dunks, dunked, dunking, on
- Familiarity
- Top 200,000
- Profile
- Known to kids · Mostly American · Negative · Everyday, not technical · Rated G