1 C1 neutral
(Baseball/Sport) To hit a ball far and powerfully
"He slugged the ball out of the park for a spectacular home run."
separable
slug out
C1 informal separable transitive
To forcefully hit or strike something out, or to produce something with great effort
In plain English
To hit something very hard, or to produce or get something done through a lot of effort
What does "slug out" mean?
2 meanings, ordered from most common to least. Color-coded by CEFR level.
2 C1 idiomatic informal
To produce something — such as a piece of writing or a decision — through hard effort
"She slugged out a response to the critic at two in the morning."
separable
Literal vs figurative
Words literally mean
To hit something hard out of a place
Actually means
To hit something very hard, or to produce or get something done through a lot of effort
Usage tip
Less common than 'slug it out'. The transitive use ('slug out a response') is rare and very informal. More often encountered in baseball contexts (slugging the ball out of the park).
Words that pair with "slug out"
Natural word combinations native speakers use most often.
home run response answer ball solution
How to conjugate "slug out"
The five tense forms you'll use most often.
Base
slug out
I/you/we/they
3rd person
slugs out
he/she/it
Past simple
sluged out
yesterday
Past participle
sluged out
have + pp
-ing form
sluging out
continuous
Hear "slug out" in the wild
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Other ways to say "slug out"
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