ball game

or ballgame

See synonyms for ball game on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any game played with a ball, especially baseball or softball.

  2. Informal. a situation and all its attendant circumstances: Having a new administration in power changes the entire ball game at city hall.: Compare new ball game.

  1. Archaeology. a ceremonial game of both ritual and sporting significance, played by teams on a ball court in Mesoamerican cultures from the Preclassic period to the Spanish conquest.

Origin of ball game

1
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ball game in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for ball game

ball game

noun
  1. any game played with a ball

  2. US and Canadian a game of baseball

  1. informal a situation; state of affairs (esp in the phrase a whole new ball game)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with ball game

ball game

see whole new ballgame.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.