Word.ws English Dictionary

knockout

/ˈnɒk.aʊt/US/ˈnɑk.oʊt/

knockout noun: 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. Also the ellipsis of knockout auction.

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
    • "You’re asking too many questions. Look. You’re a cute kid. I mean, you’re a hell of a chick. You’re a knockout. But don’t go thinking you’re too important at this stage."1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 183
    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.
  7. A creature engineered with a particular gene deactivated.
  8. An event where a foreground color causes a background color not to print.
  9. A tournament in which a team or player must beat the opponent in order to progress to the next round.
    • the knockout stages of the competition
    • In truth, Tottenham never really looked like taking all three points and this defeat means they face a battle to reach the knockout stages -with their next home game against PAOK Salonika on 30 November likely to prove decisive.2011 November 3, Chris Bevan, “Rubin Kazan 1 – 0 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport
  10. (uncountable) A simple game for two or more players, derived from basketball.
  11. (US, capitalized) A woman in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Adjective

knockout (not comparable)

  1. Rendering someone unconscious.
    • He delivered a knockout blow.
  2. Amazing; gorgeous; beautiful.
    • You should have seen her knockout eyes.
    • If the same model has beautiful hair, white teeth, glowing skin, a fit body, good hands and legs, a great wardrobe, and a knockout comp, her value on the "bookability meter" goes sky high.2010, Ro Martinez, Modeling at Any Age, page 81
  3. Designating an organism in which a particular gene has been removed or deactivated.
    • The result is a so-called knockout mouse, reared with a single gene silenced, the better to reveal that gene's true purpose.1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 255
  4. Causing elimination from a competition.
    • Rodolph Austin delivered the knockout blow from close range 20 minutes from time, after Aidan White had given Leeds a dream start after four minutes.2012, Ben Smith, Leeds United 2-1 Everton

Also used as

knockout is also the ellipsis of knockout auction.

knockout meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali

knockout in Hindi

नॉकआउट, नाकआउट, नकआउट

knockout in Tamil

நாக்அவுட்

knockout in Marathi

नॉकआउट, नॉकआऊट

knockout in Bengali

নকআউট, নাকআউট
More languagesFewer languages
knockout in Telugu
నాకౌట్, నాక్ఔట్
knockout in Malayalam
നോക്ക്ഔട്ട്, നാക്ക്ഔട്ട്, നോക്കൌട്ട്
knockout in Kannada
ನಾಕ್ಔಟ್, ನಾಕೌಟ್
knockout in Punjabi
ਨਾਕਆਊਟ, ਨੋਕਆਊਟ, ਨਾਕਆਉਟ
knockout in Gujarati
નોકઆઉટ, નૉકઆઉટ, નકઆઉટ
knockout in Odia
ନକଆଉଟ୍, ନକ୍ଆଉଟ୍, ନକଆଉଟ
knockout in Nepali
नकआउट, नॉकआउट, नाकआउट
knockout in Indonesian
knockout
knockout in Thai
ยกเดียวจอด yohk diaao jaawt
knockout in Vietnamese
nốc ao, đo ván

Examples of knockout in a sentence

  • If you land a knockout blow, you’ll win the match.
  • He has won twice by knockout, once by decision.
  • My second fight against the big dosser Deontay Wilder, the biggest knockout merchant in boxing history.

All 30 example sentences with knockout

Synonyms of knockout

Forms of knockout

pluralknockouts
alternative formknock-out

Plural of knockout: knockouts

Origin of knockout

Deverbal from knock out.

Words formed from knockout

Phrases with knockout

Questions about knockout

What does knockout mean?
Knockout means 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.
What is knockout in Hindi?
Knockout in Hindi is नॉकआउट, नाकआउट, नकआउट. See Knockout meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is knockout?
Knockout can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce knockout?
Knockout is pronounced /ˈnɒk.aʊt/ (UK).
What is the plural of knockout?
The plural of knockout is knockouts.

Words near knockout in the dictionary

  1. knocknobblers
  2. knocko
  3. knockoff
  4. knockoffs
  5. knockos
  6. knockout
  7. knockout auction
  8. knockout auctions
  9. knockout drop
  10. knockout drops
  11. knockout game

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knockout (page history and authors); knockout (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); knockout (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); knockout (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); knockout (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); knockout (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); knockout (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); knockout (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); knockout (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); knockout (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); knockout (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); knockout (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-knockout.wav.

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