sandbag
Americanverb (used with object)
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sandbags,
present (3rd person singular)
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sandbagged,
past participle, past
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sandbagging
present participle
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to furnish with sandbags.
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to hit or stun with a sandbag.
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Informal.
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to set upon violently; attack from or as if from ambush.
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to coerce or intimidate, as by threats.
The election committee was sandbagged into nominating the officers for a second term.
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to thwart or cause to fail or be rejected, especially surreptitiously or without warning.
He sandbagged our proposal with his snide remarks to the boss.
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Poker. to deceive (one or more opponents) into remaining in the pot by refraining from betting on a strong hand, then raising the bet in a later round.
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Informal. to gain an advantage over (one or more competitors) by concealing one's abilities or other strengths early in a game or other competitive activity.
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Informal. to gain an advantage by concealing or downplaying the strengths of (something).
companies that sandbag their earnings estimates and then easily beat them to make everyone happy.
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verb (used without object)
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sandbags,
present (3rd person singular)
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sandbagged,
past participle, past
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sandbagging
present participle
noun
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a sack filled with sand used for protection against gunfire, floodwater, etc, or as ballast in a balloon, ship, etc
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a bag filled with sand and used as a weapon
verb
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to protect or strengthen with sandbags
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to hit with or as if with a sandbag
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finance to obstruct (an unwelcome takeover bid) by prolonging talks in the hope that an acceptable bidder will come forward
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sandbagsimple
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sandbagssimple
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have sandbaggedperfect
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has sandbaggedperfect
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am sandbaggingprogressive
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are sandbaggingprogressive
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is sandbaggingprogressive
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have been sandbaggingperfect progressive
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has been sandbaggingperfect progressive
Past
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sandbaggedsimple
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had sandbaggedperfect
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was sandbaggingprogressive
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were sandbaggingprogressive
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had been sandbaggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sandbag
Explanation
A sandbag is a big bag of sand. If a hurricane is coming, chuck a sandbag or two by the beach house to keep the water out. Also, to sandbag someone is to trick or bully them into doing something. Sand is inexpensive and heavy, which is why sandbags are used for jobs like protecting vehicles and buildings during bombings or storms, or balancing the total weight on a boat. When you use sandbag as a verb, it either means to protect with sandbags or to deceive or coerce someone to get something you want. When you pretend that you're terrible at basketball just so you can beat your cousin in one-on-one, you sandbag her.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A sandbag distribution site at a parking lot located at 5400 E. Ocean Blvd. will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. beginning Friday and lasting through the weather event.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Exercises in the competition are similar to those found in athletic gyms, such as burpee broad jumps and sandbag lunges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Do I have a sandbag to rest my head on while all this melee is happening around me?'
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Ultimately, Bertrand removes a 50-pound sandbag from the counterweight bin, tightens the sling, and realigns the wooden trough.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025
I’d rigged it up myself: a sandbag painted white, a pulley system.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
Doctors described how sandbags were set up to protect the building.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
The city’s public works team and its Parks, Recreation and Marine bureau were working to secure it, putting up sandbags and rebuilding the berm to stop water intrusion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
Richardson urged people to take seriously warnings to prepare, including picking up city-provided sandbags, saying "our infrastructure was not built for this."
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
People could help prepare for floods by moving "the good stuff upstairs" and making sure they had sandbags to hand ahead of bad weather, he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
As if through dark glass I could see him lying flat in his circle of sandbags, silent and scared, listening, telling himself it was all a trick of the dark.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
While shop owners sandbagged the entrances to their stores and boarded up the doors and windows, there was little sense of impending disaster.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026
Scholz visited Reichertshofen, north of Munich, inspecting a sandbagged river bank and meeting regional officials including Markus Söder, Bavaria’s governor.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
"The president called to check on me. I told him I got sandbagged," McConnell joked to reporters, referencing President Joe Biden's explanation for his fall last month.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2023
The hallmarks of a wartime capital, though, were unmistakable: sandbagged statuary, rusted “hedgehog” tank traps, checkpoints on roads leading to the city.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2023
The place was dark and cool, I remember, with crumbling walls and sandbagged windows and a ceiling full of holes.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
Starting any new car company in America, let alone an electric one, requires uncanny maneuvering and persistence against every kind of bureaucratic, regulatory and political sandbagging.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Institute experts also looked at the possibility of models "sandbagging" - or strategically hiding their true capabilities from testers.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2025
Early on, the city braced for a potential Russian amphibious attack, shoring up defenses, sandbagging pastel-colored buildings, blocking off key approaches with antitank “hedgehogs” fashioned from steel beams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2022
Crews spent Tuesday night sandbagging around the station.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2021
The sandbagging on the ground-floor windows was reinforced, and civilian contractors were on the roofs checking the firmness of the chimney stacks and the concreted skylights.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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