Word.ws English Dictionary

kicker

UK/ˈkɪkə//ˈkɪkɚ/

kicker noun: one who kicks.

Noun (1)

kicker (plural kickers)

  1. One who kicks.
  2. One who takes kicks.
    1. A placekicker: a player who kicks the football during free kicks, kick offs, field goals, and extra point tries.
  3. The kicking strap.
  4. (informal) An outboard motor.
  5. (colloquial) An unexpected situation, detail or circumstance, often unpleasant, serving as a punchline or clincher.
    • John wants to climb the wall, but the kicker is that it is thirty feet tall.
    • Tuition is free; the kicker is that mandatory room and board costs twice as much as at other colleges.
  6. An enticement for investors, e.g. warranty added to the investment contract.
  7. An unpaired card which is part of a pair, two pair, or three of a kind poker hand.
    • Jill's hand was two pair, aces and sevens, with a king kicker.
  8. Small text above a headline that indicates the topic of the story.
    • Hammers are, in essence, reverse kickers. Instead of being set in smaller type like kickers, hammers are set in larger type than headlines.1981, Harry W. Stonecipher, Edward C. Nicholls, Douglas A. Anderson, Electronic Age News Editing, page 104
  9. The last one or two paragraphs of a story.
  10. Synonym of lead-in (“start of photo caption”).
    Synonyms:
    lead-in
  11. A lighthearted or humorous item used to round off a news broadcast.
    • […] international news and politics, and heavy on the light stuff: local news, entertainment and merry little kickers […]1984, Media Report to Women, volume 12, page 46
    • Instead, a reporter can carve out a niche as an entertainment/community reporter, thus concentrating their efforts on filing feature stories for the E block, where the kickers are slated. Kickers are feel-good pieces placed at the end of the newscast to leave viewers in a good mood […]2013, Frank Barnas, Ted White, Broadcast News Writing, Reporting, and Producing, page 77
  12. A device that periodically displaces a newspaper from the print production line, to aid in gathering the newspapers into fixed-size bundles.
    • In a printing machine, the combination of a kicker mechanism for displacing a newspaper […]1931, Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, page 490
Show 7 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A launch ramp.
  2. (slang) The fermenting mass of fruit that is the basis of pruno, or "prison wine".
    Synonyms:
    motor
  3. (informal) A relaxed party.
    Synonyms:
    kickback
  4. A backlight positioned at an angle.
    Synonyms:
    kick
  5. (pinball) A rubber pad that propels the ball away upon impact, like a bumper, but usually a horizontal side of a wall.
  6. (performance art) A practitioner of the kicking performance art.
  7. (US, archaic, slang) A complainer.

Noun (2)

kicker (plural kickers)

  1. (Southern US, slang) A particular type of Texan who is associated with country/western attire, attitudes, and/or philosophy.

kicker meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

kicker in Hindi

किकर, लात मारने वाला

kicker in Tamil

உந்துவிப்பி

kicker in Marathi

किकर

kicker in Urdu

ٹھوکر مارنے, ضرب لگانے والا
More languagesFewer languages
kicker in Bengali
কিকার
kicker in Telugu
కిక్కర్
kicker in Malayalam
കിക്കർ, കിക്ക് ചെയ്യുന്നയാൾ
kicker in Kannada
ಕಿಕ್ಕರ್
kicker in Punjabi
ਕਿੱਕਰ, ਕਿਕਰ
kicker in Gujarati
કિકર
kicker in Odia
କିକ୍କର୍, କିକର୍
kicker in Nepali
किकर

Examples of kicker in a sentence

  • I bet after the third down, the kicker will replace the quarterback on the field.
  • Good kickers could help with soccer practices; skilled headbutters could become champion goalies.
  • Instead of being set in smaller type like kickers, hammers are set in larger type than headlines.

All 15 example sentences with kicker

Synonyms of kicker

Forms of kicker

pluralkickers

Plural of kicker: kickers

Origin of kicker

From kick + -er.

The southern-U.S. sense referring to a person derives from shitkicker, referring to a cowboy with boots used to kick away cow manure.

Words formed from kicker

Phrases with kicker

Words that rhyme with kicker

15 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about kicker

What does kicker mean?
Kicker means one who kicks.
What is kicker in Hindi?
Kicker in Hindi is किकर, लात मारने वाला. See Kicker meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is kicker?
Kicker is a noun.
How do you pronounce kicker?
Kicker is pronounced /ˈkɪkɚ/ (US).
What is the plural of kicker?
The plural of kicker is kickers.

Words near kicker in the dictionary

  1. kicked upstairs
  2. kicked with
  3. kicked with the other foot
  4. kickee
  5. kickees
  6. kicker
  7. kickers
  8. kickest
  9. kicketh
  10. kickflip
  11. kickflipped

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kicker (page history and authors); kicker (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); kicker (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); kicker (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); kicker (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); kicker (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); kicker (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); kicker (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); kicker (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); kicker (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); kicker (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); kicker (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); kicker (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-kicker.ogg.

Cite this entry: “kicker.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kicker. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.