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Glite Dictionary
🏀 To dunk over 🖼️ To make a poster 🎨 To reduce colors
to posterize

to posterize

1 8.6
To dunk the ball over an opponent in a way that embarrasses them
  • verb
  • /ˈpoʊstərˌaɪz/
  • Jargon
translation icon : hacer un mate
  • Everyone jumped to their feet when he posterized a defender with an incredible dunk over him.

Examples

  • Posterized.

    Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

  • P.S.: BG posterized Perkins big time.

    Blog text (13)

  • Eye contact, spin back for the alley oop, and if it was a foul, he was gonna posterize somebody.

    Uncut Gems (2019)

  • BG has great dunks, but after a few years, someone will posterize him.

    Blog text (13)

  • Posterized!

    Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

  • Just because Blake posterized someone who was clearly slow to jump, he can't be the dunk of the year.

    Blog text (13)

  • The Lakers, because of this man Kobe Bryant could take over posterize as Dwight Howard.

  • Perkins didn't learn since last year, when Dwyane Wade posterized him mightily in Miami.

    Blog text (13)

  • All I know is that when BG prepared for takeoff, I knew poor Perkins was gonna get posterized, and that's gonna make one HELL of a poster.

    Blog text (13)

  • In the final seconds of the game, he posterized his challenger with a breathtaking slam dunk.

Synonyms

to dunk
vsto posterize
21 4.9

To push the ball down through the hoop with your hand above the rim

is a showy score performed over an opponent that humiliates and excites
to slam-dunk
vsto posterize
1 4.1

To put the ball through the basketball hoop with force using one or both hands

is a dramatic score performed over an opponent that humiliates or creates a highlight

Surface Forms

posterize infinitive
posterized past
posterized past participle
posterizing present participle
posterizes third person singular

Morphology

posterize = poster (semi-transparent) = poster + ize

This is a metaphorical, domain-specific extension ('to make someone look like a poster') used in sports; the link to 'poster' exists but relies on cultural/sports knowledge.

Etymology

Posterize comes from poster, a 'large printed picture'. In basketball a dunk is said to posterize an opponent when the play is so amazing it could be on a poster, so the word now means a spectacular, memorable dunk over someone.