Pronunciations
-
/hɪt/
Verb
To strike. To administer a blow to, directly or with a weapon or missile.
Usage- physical
- Transitive
- Examples
-
One boy hit the other.
More examples (1)
Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
He tried to hit me but I dodged the blow and went out to plot revenge.
More examples (2)
Bello: (Shouts) Good, by the rumping jumping general! That's the best bit of news I heard these six weeks. Here, don't keep me waiting, damn you! (He slaps her face) Bello: (Whimpers) You're after hitting me. I'll tell[…]
I hunted him for half a hour, aiming to learn him to hit a man with a table-leg and then run, but I didn't find him.
To strike. To come into contact with forcefully and suddenly.
Usage- physical
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The ball hit the fence.
More examples (1)
a dozen apples, each of them near as large as a Bristol barrel, came tumbling about my ears; one of them hit me on the back as I chanced to stoop, and knocked me down flat on my face.
Meanwhile the street boys kept up a shower of mud balls, many of which hit the Doctor, while the rest were distributed upon his assailants.
To strike. To strike against something.
Usage- Intransitive
- physical
- Examples
-
I can't get anything to hit at that distance.
To strike. To activate a button or key by pressing and releasing it.
Usage- physical
- Transitive
- Examples
-
Hit the Enter key to continue.
To strike. To kill a person, usually on the instructions of a third party.
Usage- physical
- Slang
- Transitive
- Examples
-
Hit him tonight and throw the body in the river.
FREDO: Mikey, why would they ever hit poor old Frankie Five-Angels? I loved that ole sonuvabitch.
To strike. To attack, especially amphibiously.
Usage- physical
- Transitive
- Examples
-
If intelligence had been what it should have been, I don't think we'd ever have hit that island.
To strike. To affect someone, as if dealing a blow to that person.
Usage- Transitive or intransitive
- Figurative
- physical
- Examples
-
Their coffee really hits the spot.
I used to listen to that song all the time, but it hits different(ly) now.
To manage to touch (a target) in the right place.
Usage- Transitive
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
I hit the jackpot.
You can't hit the high notes in that song!
To switch on or switch off (lights).
Usage- Colloquial
- Transitive
- Examples
-
Somebody's been here! Hit the lights!
To commence playing.
Usage- Informal
- Transitive
- Examples
-
- I'd love to hear your band play. - Hit it, boys!
To briefly visit.
Usage- Colloquial
- Transitive
- Examples
-
We hit the grocery store on the way to the park.
To encounter an obstacle or other difficulty.
Usage- Informal
- Transitive
- Examples
-
You'll hit some nasty thunderstorms if you descend too late.
We hit a lot of traffic coming back from the movies.
To attain, to achieve. To reach or achieve.
Usage- Informal
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The movie hits theaters in December.
The temperature could hit 110°F tomorrow.
More examples (3)
We hit Detroit at one in the morning but kept driving through the night.
As soon as we hit Jazzafrazz Town, we were overcome by the glitz and the glamour.
And her success with Glover, a product of the National Lottery-funded Sporting Giants talent identification programme, will also spark relief among British officials who were starting to fret a little about hitting their target of equalling fourth in the medal table from Beijing.
To attain, to achieve. To meet or reach what was aimed at or desired; to succeed, often by luck.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
And oft it hits / Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.
All Human Race wou’d fain be Wits, / And Millions miſs, for one that hits.
To attain, to achieve. To guess; to light upon or discover.
- Examples
-
Thou hast hit it.
And we shall sit at endless feast, Enjoying each the other’s good; What vaster dream can hit the mood Of Love on earth?
To affect negatively.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
The economy was hit by a recession. The hurricane hit his fishing business hard.
To attack.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
-
I have to say this, he hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I’ve never heard of this one. Look at those hands. Are they small hands?
To make a play. In blackjack, to deal a card to.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Hit me.
To make a play. To come up to bat.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
Jones hit for the pitcher.
To make a play. To take up, or replace by a piece belonging to the opposing player; said of a single unprotected piece on a point.
To use; to connect to.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
The external web servers hit DBSRV7, but the internal web server hits DBSRV3.
To have sex with.
Usage- US usage
- Slang
- Transitive
- Examples
-
I'd hit that!
To inhale an amount of smoke from a narcotic substance, particularly marijuana.
Usage- US usage
- Slang
- Transitive
- Examples
-
Tastes like fruit when you hit it; got to have bread to get it.
More examples (1)
I'm hitting my DMT cart right now. Hold up, hold on nigga. I'm hittin' it not enough to break through though. Oh my God! Oh my God nigga uhhh. I'm- ohhh my God, dude! Ohhh, ahhh! Oh my God! Holy fuck! Oh my God! Oohhh. Oohhh! God! Oh my God! Ahhh! Fuck, I'm breaking through bro. Ohh!
(of an exercise) to affect, to work a body part.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
This is another great exercise which hits the long head.
To work out.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
With that said, the group hitting their legs just once a week still made gains.
Noun
A blow; a punch; a striking against; the collision of one body against another; the stroke that touches anything.
- Examples
-
So he the fam'd Cilician fencer prais'd, / And, at each hit, with wonder seem'd amaz'd.
The hit was very slight.
Something very successful, such as a song, film, or video game, that receives widespread recognition and acclaim.
- Examples
-
Marie Taglioni was another hit for Her Majesty's Theatre last season, and will be a hit again this season[…]
More examples (1)
Chico & Rita opens in the modern era, as an aged, weary Chico shines shoes in his native Cuba. Then a song heard on the radio—a hit he wrote and recorded with Rita in their youth—carries him back to 1948 Havana, where they first met.
A blow; a calamitous or damaging occurrence.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
-
His reputation took a hit when the new information came to light.
An attack on a location, person or people.
A collision of a projectile with the target.
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.
A collision of a projectile with the target. In the game of Battleship, a correct guess at where one's opponent ship is.
A match found by searching a computer system or search engine
Usage- Internet
A measured visit to a web site, a request for a single file from a web server.
Usage- Internet
- Examples
-
My site received twice as many hits after being listed in a search engine.
An approximately correct answer in a test set.
The complete play, when the batter reaches base without the benefit of a walk, error, or fielder’s choice.
- Examples
-
The catcher got a hit to lead off the fifth.
A dose of an illegal or addictive drug.
Usage- Colloquial
- Examples
-
Where am I going to get my next hit?
A premeditated murder done for criminal or political purposes.
- Examples
-
The questions that have always haunted the family — who ordered the hit, and why, and who in London might have known — remain unanswered.
A peculiarly apt expression or turn of thought; a phrase which hits the mark.
Usage- Dated
- Examples
-
a happy hit
What late he called a blessing, now was wit, / And God's good providence, a lucky hit.
A move that throws one of the opponent's men back to the entering point.
A game won after the adversary has removed some of his men. It counts for less than a gammon.
Adjective
Very successful.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
-
The band played their hit song to the delight of the fans.
Pronoun
It.
Usage- dialectal
- Examples
-
But how hit was to come about didn't appear.
Now, George, grease it good, an' let hit slide down the hill hits own way.
Noun
(baseball) when a batter strikes a pitched ball into fair territory and arrives safely on base (without an error or a fielder's choice being made by the defense)
- Examples
-
he came all the way around on Williams' hit
the act of contacting one thing with another
- Examples
-
repeated hitting raised a large bruise
after three misses she finally got a hit
a conspicuous success
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
that song was his first hit and marked the beginning of his career
that new Broadway show is a real smasher
More examples (1)
the party went with a bang
(physics) a brief event in which two or more bodies come together
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
the collision of the particles resulted in an exchange of energy and a change of direction
a dose of a narcotic drug
a murder carried out by an underworld syndicate
- Examples
-
it has all the earmarks of a Mafia hit
a connection made via the internet to another website
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
WordNet gets many hits from users worldwide
Verb
cause to move by striking
- Examples
-
hit a ball
hit against; come into sudden contact with
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
The car hit a tree
He struck the table with his elbow
deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
He hit her hard in the face
reach a destination, either real or abstract
- Examples
-
We hit Detroit by noon
The water reached the doorstep
More examples (2)
We barely made it to the finish line
I have to hit the MAC machine before the weekend starts
affect or afflict suddenly, usually adversely
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
We were hit by really bad weather
He was stricken with cancer when he was still a teenager
More examples (1)
The earthquake struck at midnight
hit with a missile from a weapon
encounter by chance
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
I stumbled across a long-lost cousin last night in a restaurant
cause to experience suddenly
- Examples
-
Panic struck me
An interesting idea hit her
More examples (3)
A thought came to me
The thought struck terror in our minds
They were struck with fear
make a strategic, offensive, assault against an enemy, opponent, or a target
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
The Germans struck Poland on Sept. 1, 1939
We must strike the enemy's oil fields
More examples (1)
in the fifth inning, the Giants struck, sending three runners home to win the game 5 to 2
kill intentionally and with premeditation
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
The mafia boss ordered his enemies murdered
drive something violently into a location
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
he hit his fist on the table
she struck her head on the low ceiling
reach a point in time, or a certain state or level
- Examples
-
The thermometer hit 100 degrees
This car can reach a speed of 140 miles per hour
produce by manipulating keys or strings of musical instruments
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
The pianist strikes a middle C
strike ‘z’ on the keyboard
hit the intended target or goal
pay unsolicited and usually unwanted sexual attention to
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
He tries to hit on women in bars