volleyball

The word “volleyball” means a team sport in which players hit an inflated ball back and forth over a net without letting it touch the ground on their own side. In plain terms, a sport where two teams hit a ball over a net without letting it touch the ground.

“Volleyball” is pronounced VO-lee-bawl (/ˈvɒlibɔ(ː)l/ in IPA).

Here is “volleyball” used in a sentence: “They set up a net on the beach and played volleyball all afternoon.”

“Volleyball” is a noun.

The word “volleyball” dates back to around 1890. Coined in the 1890s in Massachusetts from volley + ball, after an observer noticed the "volleying" back-and-forth nature of the newly invented game (originally called Mintonette).

“Volleyball” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Volleyball” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a team sport in which players hit an inflated ball back and forth over a net without letting it touch the ground on their own side.

Standard volleyball is played indoors on a hard court with six players per team, while beach volleyball is played on sand, most commonly with two players per side. Both share the same basic goal of hitting the ball over a net without letting it touch the ground on your own side.

Volleyball can refer either to the team sport itself or to the inflated ball used to play it. Context usually makes the meaning clear, as in "we're playing volleyball" versus "pass me the volleyball."

Volleyball is generally considered a non-contact sport because opposing players are separated by a net and do not physically engage each other. Contact in volleyball is limited to hitting the ball, not other players.