To dunk means to push or dip something quickly into a liquid. You might dunk a cookie into milk, submerging it just long enough to soften it before taking a bite. People dunk doughnuts into coffee, tea bags into hot water, or bread into soup.

In basketball, a dunk is an exciting shot where a player jumps high enough to slam the ball down through the hoop with one or both hands. It's one of the most thrilling plays in the game because it requires impressive jumping ability and power. When a player executes a perfect slam dunk, the crowd erupts.

The word can also mean to immerse someone completely, like dunking your friend underwater at the pool, or the old carnival game where you try to dunk someone into a tank of water by hitting a target with a ball.

The satisfying sound of a basketball being dunked, the splash of dunking something in water, or the way a cookie softens when dunked in milk: they all share that idea of something being pushed or dropped decisively into something else.