hit meaning

UK /hɪt/ US /hɪt/ 1 syllable

hit (verb): cause to move by striking.

hit has 23 meanings in this dictionary, as verb and noun.

hit as a verb

  1. cause to move by striking
    • hit a ball

    Type of: propel

    Kinds: play, foul, cannon, clap, ground out, toe, shank, pitch, fly, snap, whang, undercut

    Related forms: hitter, hitting

  2. hit against; come into sudden contact with
    • The car hit a tree
    • He struck the table with his elbow

    Synonyms: strike, impinge on, run into, collide with

    Opposite: miss

    Type of: touch

    Kinds: stub, ping, spang, rear-end, broadside, connect, spat, thud, bottom, bottom out, bump, run into

    Related forms: hitting

  3. deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument
    • He hit her hard in the face

    Type of: touch

    Kinds: clap, slam, lam into, kick, swipe, smite, hook, swat, sock, bean, pop, get

    Related forms: hitting

  4. reach a destination, either real or abstract
    • We hit Detroit by noon
    • The water reached the doorstep
    • We barely made it to the finish line
    • I have to hit the MAC machine before the weekend starts

    Synonyms: reach, make, attain, arrive at, gain

    Kinds: catch up, scale, access, bottom out, top out, summit, top, make, find, culminate, get through, ground

  5. affect or afflict suddenly, usually adversely
    • We were hit by really bad weather
    • He was stricken with cancer when he was still a teenager
    • The earthquake struck at midnight

    Synonyms: strike

    Type of: affect

  6. hit with a missile from a weapon

    Synonyms: shoot, pip

    Type of: injure

    Kinds: gun down, grass, kneecap

    Related forms: hitting

  7. encounter by chance
    • I stumbled across a long-lost cousin last night in a restaurant

    Synonyms: stumble

    Type of: come by

  8. gain points in a game
    • The home team scored many times
    • He hit a home run
    • He hit .300 in the past season

    Synonyms: score, tally, rack up

    Type of: gain

    Kinds: par, shoot, convert, homer, kick, eagle, hole up, ace, walk, equalize, have

  9. cause to experience suddenly
    • Panic struck me
    • An interesting idea hit her
    • A thought came to me
    • The thought struck terror in our minds
    • They were struck with fear

    Synonyms: strike, come to

  10. make a strategic, offensive, assault against an enemy, opponent, or a target
    • The Germans struck Poland on Sept. 1, 1939
    • We must strike the enemy's oil fields
    • in the fifth inning, the Giants struck, sending three runners home to win the game 5 to 2

    Synonyms: strike

    Type of: attack

    Kinds: slice, chop, stroke, retaliate

  11. kill intentionally and with premeditation
    • The mafia boss ordered his enemies murdered

    Synonyms: murder, slay, dispatch, bump off, off, polish off, remove

    Type of: kill

    Kinds: burke, execute

  12. drive something violently into a location
    • he hit his fist on the table
    • she struck her head on the low ceiling

    Synonyms: strike

    Type of: move

    Kinds: smash

  13. reach a point in time, or a certain state or level
    • The thermometer hit 100 degrees
    • This car can reach a speed of 140 miles per hour

    Synonyms: reach, attain

    Type of: arrive

    Kinds: max out, break even

  14. produce by manipulating keys or strings of musical instruments
    • The pianist strikes a middle C
    • strike `z' on the keyboard

    Synonyms: strike

    Type of: touch

  15. hit the intended target or goal

    Type of: succeed

    Related forms: hitting

  16. pay unsolicited and usually unwanted sexual attention to
    • He tries to hit on women in bars

    Type of: approach

hit as a noun

  1. (baseball) a successful stroke in an athletic contest (especially in baseball)
    • he came all the way around on Williams' hit

    Type of: feat

    Kinds: base hit

  2. the act of contacting one thing with another
    • repeated hitting raised a large bruise
    • after three misses she finally got a hit

    Synonyms: hitting, striking

    Type of: touch

    Kinds: contusion, crash, bunt, fly, grounder, header, scorcher, plunk

  3. a conspicuous success
    • that song was his first hit and marked the beginning of his career
    • that new Broadway show is a real smasher
    • the party went with a bang

    Synonyms: smash, smasher, strike, bang

    Type of: success

    Kinds: blockbuster, sleeper

  4. (physics) a brief event in which two or more bodies come together
    • the collision of the particles resulted in an exchange of energy and a change of direction

    Synonyms: collision

    Type of: contact

  5. a dose of a narcotic drug

    Type of: dose

  6. a murder carried out by an underworld syndicate
    • it has all the earmarks of a Mafia hit

    Type of: murder

  7. a connection made via the internet to another website
    • WordNet gets many hits from users worldwide

    Type of: joining

How to pronounce hit

hit is pronounced /hɪt/ in British English and /hɪt/ in American English. It has 1 syllable.

Words that rhyme with hit

Scrabble score: 6 (letter breakdown)

Word lists: words starting with HI · words ending in IT · 3-letter words

More about hit on Wikipedia.