nail down
verb
nailed down; nailing down; nails down
1
: to make (something, such as a victory) certain to happen
They need to score another touchdown to nail down the victory.
2
: to find out or identify (something) exactly
Her doctors haven't yet been able to nail down a diagnosis.
They're trying to nail down the cause of our network problems.
3
: to make (something) definite or final
nail down a decision
Examples of nail down in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Of course, nailing down Sasaki’s pitch mix is far from simple.
—
Katie Woo, New York Times, 18 May 2026
The UConn baseball team had a chance to nail down the Big East title outright, but lost to Villanova, 9-6, at Elliot Ballpark in Storrs.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 17 May 2026
So still not nailed down, just an aggregate agreement.
—CBS News, 17 May 2026
Communications, though, is something NASA needs to nail down as Orion had been outfitted to use NASA’s Deep Space Network, but will instead need to rely on an alternative for low-Earth orbit operations.
—Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for nail down
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Katie Woo, New York Times, 18 May 2026
The UConn baseball team had a chance to nail down the Big East title outright, but lost to Villanova, 9-6, at Elliot Ballpark in Storrs.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 17 May 2026
So still not nailed down, just an aggregate agreement.
—CBS News, 17 May 2026
Communications, though, is something NASA needs to nail down as Orion had been outfitted to use NASA’s Deep Space Network, but will instead need to rely on an alternative for low-Earth orbit operations.
—Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for nail down
Cite this Entry
“Nail down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nail%20down. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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