Word.ws English Dictionary

topspin

topspin noun: a rotational motion, especially that given to a ball, in which the upper surface spins in the direction of motion.

Noun

topspin (countable and uncountable, plural topspins)

  1. A rotational motion, especially that given to a ball, in which the upper surface spins in the direction of motion.
    • The tennis star was famed for her topspin.
  2. (uncountable) An edgy, quirky or otherwise engaging quality that holds the interest of the audience.
    • Well remembered as a visual comedienne, she also had the verbal knack of putting all sorts of topspin on a line.1994, Richard D. Heldenfels, Television's Greatest Year: 1954, page 70
    • Flashdance had a quality known as top spin, in which the casting, the concept and the look and sound of the movie all come together.2010, Justin Wyatt, High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood

Verb

topspin (third-person singular simple present topspins, present participle topspinning, simple past and past participle topspun)

  1. (transitive) To spin (a ball) with this motion.
    • He could keep winning through attrition, with a relentless barrage of topspinning ground strokes and a tireless defense of his own side, where would-be winners go to die.2007 August 27, John Branch, “His Next Line to Cross”, in New York Times

Synonyms of topspin

Antonyms

Forms of topspin

Noun
pluraltopspins
Verb
third-person singular presenttopspins
present participletopspinning
past participletopspun
pasttopspun

Origin of topspin

From top + spin.

Words formed from topspin

Questions about topspin

What does topspin mean?
Topspin means a rotational motion, especially that given to a ball, in which the upper surface spins in the direction of motion.
What part of speech is topspin?
Topspin can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of topspin?
The plural of topspin is topspins.

Words near topspin in the dictionary

  1. topsoil
  2. topsoiled
  3. topsoiling
  4. topsoils
  5. topspace
  6. topspin
  7. topspinner
  8. topspinners
  9. topspinning
  10. topspins
  11. topspun

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: topspin (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: “topspin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/topspin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.