Word.ws English Dictionary

get open

get open verb: of a player in a team sport, to evade defenders and thereby create a gap allowing another player to pass the ball to that player.

Verb

get open (third-person singular simple present gets open, present participle getting open, simple past got open, past participle (UK) got open or (US) gotten open)

  1. Of a player in a team sport, to evade defenders and thereby create a gap allowing another player to pass the ball to that player.
    • First, players should learn how to get open to receive the ball; then they need to master basic one-on-one moves with the ball.2009, National Basketball Coaches Association, NBA Coaches Playbook: Techniques, Tactics, and Teaching Points, page 19
    • The quarterback hikes the ball, and it's the receiver's job to run around and get open until the ball comes his way.2010, Jim Dougherty, Brandon Castel, Survival Guide for Coaching Youth Football, page 50

Forms of get open

third-person singular presentgets open
present participlegetting open
pastgot open
past participle UKgot open
past participle USgotten open

Questions about get open

What does get open mean?
Get open means of a player in a team sport, to evade defenders and thereby create a gap allowing another player to pass the ball to that player.
What part of speech is get open?
Get open is a verb.
What is the past tense of get open?
The past tense of get open is got open.

Words near get open in the dictionary

  1. get one's wig split
  2. get one's wires crossed
  3. get one's ya-yas out
  4. get oneself together
  5. get onto
  6. get open
  7. get out
  8. get out from under
  9. get out of
  10. get out of bed on the wrong side
  11. get out of Dodge

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: get open (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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