sweet spot

noun

plural sweet spots

1

sports : the area around the center of mass of a bat, a racket, or the head of a club that is the most effective part with which to hit a ball

If the bat connects near its sweet spot … it vibrates very little, much as a tennis racket feels solid if you hit the ball on the racket's sweet spot.

—Sharon Begley

The shape of the clubhead has a pronounced effect on [golf] shots that are not hit out of the sweet spot of the club …

—Steen Winther

2

: an ideal or most favorable location, level, area, or combination of factors for a particular activity or purpose

Many doctors have concluded that there is something of a sweet spot on the age-education-experience continuum. They seek out clinicians who are no more than 10 years out of residency, old enough to have some mileage, young enough to be up to speed.

—Nancy Gibbs et al.

To seafood men, Fulton is the jewel of the Atlantic coast, the sweet spot on the seaboard, and the best fish from Maine to Florida rolls into the markets in refrigerated trucks.

—Jonathan Gold

"We are considering a lot of options with the site," says Zach Nelson, executive vice president of marketing. "I think we are right in the sweet spot of what's required to make e-business happen."

—Daniel Roth

The winery in Rutherford, best known for its loamy Cabernet Sauvignon, has a sweet spot of 8 acres for Chardonnay, which has produced spectacular wines.

—James Laube

Examples of sweet spot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That time frame may also be the sweet spot for getting back to the classroom, as long as the kids can tolerate any remaining concussion symptoms. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 9 Nov. 2024

With Nothing Underneath hits the sweet spot for modern consumers hunting down high-quality, affordable essentials. —Hikmat Mohammed, WWD, 21 Oct. 2024

Find those sweet spots where local teams can innovate without derailing the overall strategy. —Dr. Diane Hamilton, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024

Sometimes, owners can get stuck figuring out where their leadership sweet spot lies. —Scott Snider, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1919, in the meaning defined at sense 2