How to Use belly flop in a Sentence

belly flop

noun
  • She did a belly flop into the pool.
  • One of them did a flip and then the other one that made the movie kind of fell over and did a belly flop.
    Gabe Bergado, Teen Vogue, 20 May 2019
  • In part, because of the chance of a painful and embarrassing belly flop.
    Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 26 Apr. 2021
  • Well that one too, as the Chargers produced a 41-29 belly flop to put a wrinkle in their playoff plans.
    Jay Paris, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2021
  • Some kids stepped up to the diving board, hoping for a graceful dive but ending in a half belly flop.
    Madison Smalstig, The Indianapolis Star, 11 July 2022
  • And with that, the 32-year-old executed a belly flop into the water.
    Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, 16 Nov. 2019
  • The Starship is to belly flop in the upper atmosphere at a 60-degree angle, Mr. Musk said.
    Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2019
  • But rays also will sometimes leap up and do a back flop or a belly flop, trying to shake off parasites.
    al, 18 July 2022
  • The school released video, which has almost reached one million views, of the coach executing a belly flop.
    Mark Heim | [email protected], al, 6 Aug. 2019
  • One young bear performed repeat belly flops into schools of fish but never caught one.
    Eva Sohlman, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2019
  • San Francisco did a belly flop in rainy Chicago, 19-10.
    Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2022
  • There’s no bigger thrill than the crisp clap of a massive belly flop made by an actual massive belly.
    Erik Piepenburg, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2020
  • After some comedy gold and a few belly flops, the queens took it to the runway in their best denim drag, inspired by queen of country and one of Thursday night’s guest judges Shania Twain.
    Stephen Daw, Billboard, 20 Apr. 2018
  • First, visitors must step into the cycle area, straddle the seat, then kneel onto a padded area, and then lean forward — not really a belly flop but akin to it.
    Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel, 2 Mar. 2023
  • Launch, hover, belly flop return, and crucially, the landing.
    Jonathan O'Callaghan, Forbes, 6 May 2021
  • If any further punctuation was needed, Babylon opened to a resounding belly flop at the box office.
    Gregg Kilday, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Jan. 2023
  • One North Carolina toddler’s fearless attempt at a dive into a backyard pool may have been a total flop, but the two-year-old’s hilarious belly flop has charmed the internet.
    Janine Puhak, Fox News, 22 July 2018
  • Players have more of mixed feelings on the baseball layout, with former running back Justin Forsett comparing falling on the dirt at the Coliseum to belly flopping on pavement.
    Adam Renuart, CNN, 15 Dec. 2019
  • But to finger him for WeWork’s belly flop misses the structural incentives that shaped his behavior — and those of every other money-losing mega start-up, from Theranos to Uber.
    Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2019
  • Serial inventor Elon Musk’s Cybertruck belly flopped at its world debut last week when its shatterproof glass shattered.
    Washington Post, 29 Nov. 2019
  • Lure maker Gary Yamamoto designed the Senko to fall horizontally, in a long, squiggly belly flop, which is more natural than the nose-down attitude most soft-plastic baits assume.
    John Merwin, Field & Stream, 22 May 2019
  • Visitors were clearly delighted, however, to encounter a giant panda cub climbing a tree before falling to the ground in a majestic belly flop.
    Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, 10 July 2017
  • Whereas the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket boosters return to the launch pad at a nearly 90 degree angle, Starship will essentially belly flop through the atmosphere and right itself just before landing.
    Wired, 28 Sep. 2019
  • By executing a belly flop, Starship can more accurately control its landing using its fins.
    Daniel Oberhaus, Wired, 9 Dec. 2020
  • Lee, who secured her spot in the play-off with an incredible chip-in eagle on the 18th, celebrated her victory by leaping into Poppie's Pond with her caddie Matt Gelczis, who performed a spectacular belly flop into the water.
    Matias Grez, CNN, 14 Sep. 2020
  • Somersaulting through the air, diving into a web of spinning jump ropes, performing dangerous belly flops and bouncing upright seconds later, the Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team commands attention with its high-energy act.
    Peggy O’Hare, San Antonio Express-News, 22 Feb. 2018
  • Perhaps most impressively, the unprecedented belly flop maneuver and demonstration of Starship's aerodynamics bode extremely well for the company's plans to reuse the vehicle.
    Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 10 Dec. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'belly flop.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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