dunk on

verb

dunked on; dunking on; dunks on

transitive verb

1

: to make a dunk shot over (an opposing player)

[San Antonio] Spurs great Manu Ginobili … stars in a new social media video sharing the game thoughts that ran through his head as he dunked on Yao Ming, one of the NBA's tallest players ever.

—Madalyn Mendoza

[Malcolm] Brogdon showed the Bucks right away that they got the steal of the draft, as he had an impressive rookie season, even dunking on LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in one game.

—Matt Newton

2

slang : to publicly make fun of (someone or something) especially on social media

Justin Bieber decided he was up for a fresh new hairstyle (or just got sick of people dunking on him) and ditched the dreadlocks.

—Samantha Wilson

… getting dunked on on social media isn't the same as getting canceled (whatever that means). It's more like dropping your tray of food in the lunchroom in middle school and everyone points and laughs at you …

—Jason Aten

[Alex] Walker, a Democrat, is hoping that any attention he draws, whether people celebrate his message or dunk on him, will help transform him into an Internet phenomenon and defeat a Republican firebrand.

—Taylor Lorenz and David Weigel

An inflammatory tweet would be retweeted by supporters, dunked on by critics, and amplified by journalists, before making its way to website homepages, cable news … and newspaper front pages.

—David A. Graham

Examples of dunk on in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Although dunking on political rivals is sometimes the aim, other lawmakers say the app is useful more as a way to engage with constituents and understand their needs. —Anabel Sosa, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2025

End times on the app are full of creators asking their audiences to follow them elsewhere, while also using every last second to dunk on their own country and its efforts to ban an app while much larger problems persist. —Megan Farokhmanesh, WIRED, 15 Jan. 2025

And now Notre Dame officially has dunked on the very thought. —Joe Rexrode, The Athletic, 10 Jan. 2025

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial on Carter’s death dunked on them both as Presidents who failed to deliver peace and prosperity and were punished by the voters accordingly. —Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 9 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined at sense 1