What does lobbed mean?
In modern English, lobbed is the past tense and past participle of lob, a verb for propelling something in a high, relatively slow arc. Its most familiar use is in sport: a tennis player may lob the ball over an opponent, while a footballer may send a pass high into the penalty area or float the ball over a goalkeeper. The word suggests both a pronounced upward trajectory and a soft or controlled delivery, although the speed can vary. Outside sport, lobbed can describe any object thrown or sent into the air in a similar fashion. As the past participle, it can also appear after a compound auxiliary, as in “has lobbed the ball into space.” Although lob itself is relatively uncommon outside sporting and descriptive contexts, lobbed is readily understood wherever the action involves a conspicuously high arc rather than a fast, direct line.
verbLobbed is the past tense and past participle of lob, meaning to throw or propel something so that it travels in a high, relatively slow arc.
- To throw, propel, or send something in a high, relatively slow arc.
"She lobbed the ball high over her opponent and just inside the baseline."
"He lobbed the ball over the defender and into the net."
"The player calmly lobbed the ball just over the net."
A lobbed ball can look gentle and floaty, only to drop sharply behind a defender at the last possible moment.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does lobbed come from?
Lobbed is simply an inflection of lob, whose English use is recorded from Middle English. The verb is generally associated with older French and Latin forms connected with Latin lobus, meaning a lobe, although the precise development of its throwing sense is not entirely transparent. Related English forms such as lobe, lobate, lobule, and lobular reflect the same Latin root.
Related word forms
How lobbed is actually used
Lob is especially common in sport, particularly tennis, football, and cricket. It emphasizes a high, arcing trajectory rather than speed or force, and it also occurs in informal descriptions of similar movements in everyday life.
Easily confused with lobbed
Lobbed is a verb form describing the action of throwing something in a high arc, whereas lobed is an adjective meaning divided into or shaped like lobes.