Word.ws English Dictionary

knock-out

knock-out is the alternative form of knockout.

Meaning of knockout

Noun

knockout (plural knockouts)

  1. The act of making one unconscious, or at least unable to come back on one's feet within a certain period of time; a TKO.
    • The boxer scored a knockout on his opponent.
  2. The deactivation of anything.
    • Pull the plug on a node to see how the network handles a node knockout.1989 February 6, Network World, page 82
  3. (informal) Something wildly popular, entertaining, or funny.
    • If you've ever had a sack race, you know it's a real knockout for kids and adults alike.
  4. (informal) A very attractive person, especially a beautiful woman.
    • “There’s a girl wants to see you. Her name’s Wonderly.” “A customer?” “I guess so. You’ll want to see her anyway: she’s a knockout.”1930, Dashiell Hammet, The Maltese Falcon, New York, N.Y.; London: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, page 3
    Synonyms:
    stunner
  5. A partially punched opening meant for optional later removal.
    • They left a knockout in the panel for running extra wires someday.
  6. The deactivation of a particular gene.

See all 15 meanings of knockout

Forms of knock-out

pluralknock-outs

Questions about knock-out

What is knock-out the alternative form of?
Knock-out is the alternative form of knockout.

Words near knock-out in the dictionary

  1. knock-offs
  2. knock-on
  3. knock-on effect
  4. knock-on effects
  5. knock-ons
  6. knock-out
  7. knock-outs
  8. knock-shop
  9. knock-shops
  10. knock-up
  11. knock-ups

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knock-out (page history and authors); knockout (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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Cite this entry: “knock-out.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/knock-out. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.