View synonyms for curveball

curveball

or curve ball

[ kurv-bawl ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, Baseball.

a pitch with a downward spin that causes the ball to drop and veer as it approaches home plate, away from the side from which it was thrown:
He started perfecting his curveball during his junior year in high school.

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

It ended up being the first kidney stone of his life—which was this unbelievable curveball.

We sat in a tiny pizzeria in Milan and strategized about how to turn my curves into a curveball.

I passed this information to senior management and had one of my best officers pull together the entire Curveball file.

This fell to me, as the Chief of Europe; it was the first time I had heard of Curveball.

Finally, in March 2004 the Europeans relented and we sent one of our very best field officers to debrief Curveball.

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