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backhand shot

backhand shot

1 3.6
A stroke in tennis or similar racket sports made with the back of the hand facing the ball
  • noun
translation icon : golpe de revés
  • The player practiced her backhand shot to improve her game at the local tennis club.

Examples

  • During the match, his powerful backhand shot won him the championship point.

  • With less than two minutes remaining in the second frame, sophomore forward Phil Di Giuseppe appeared to give Michigan the lead, but his backhand shot clanked off the near post and then off the far post without crossing the goal line.

    Blog text (13)
  • She executed a beautiful backhand shot that caught her opponent off guard.

Synonyms

backhand
vsbackhand shot
24 3.8

A hit made with the back of the hand facing the ball

applies mainly to a single struck ball rather than any returned action
two-handed backhand
vsbackhand shot
1 3.9

A backhand shot you make while holding the racket with both hands

is the general form not specifying the number of hands used
backhand stroke
vsbackhand shot
3.7

A hit in tennis or table tennis when the back of the hand faces the ball

means the same but uses a different noun for the movement
backhand drive
vsbackhand shot
6.0

A hard straight shot hit with the racket across the body in tennis

is any such stroke regardless of force or direction

Antonyms

A stroke hit with the palm facing forward in tennis or badminton

How Hard

backhand shot
1 3.6

Surface Forms

backhand shot singular

Morphology

backhand + shot

The meaning of 'backhand shot' is directly compositional: 'backhand' denotes a stroke made with the back of the hand and 'shot' denotes a stroke/attempt in sport, so together they describe a stroke executed with the back of the hand. This noun + noun/adj combination follows regular English compounding and is common in sports terminology (and in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily understand it.

Etymology

Backhand shot comes from the way you hit the ball: the back of your hand faces the direction of the shot. That's why it means 'a stroke made with the back of the hand' in tennis and other sports.