batting average
Americannoun
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Baseball. a measure of the batting ability of a player, obtained by dividing the number of base hits by the number of official times at bat and carrying out the result to three decimal places. A player with 100 base hits in 300 times at bat has a batting average of 0.333.
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Informal. a degree of achievement or accomplishment in any activity.
Etymology
Origin of batting average
An Americanism dating back to 1865–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The collective batting average on ground balls this year is .249.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Smith's Test batting average has dipped below 40 and he needs to avoid developing a habit for maddening modes of dismissal.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
It seems like only yesterday Jake Bauers was a senior at Marina High collecting 48 hits with a .571 batting average.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Mr. Lewis documented how Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, seemed to have figured out offense by emphasizing slugging and on-base percentage over batting average.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
The result would be a higher overall batting average for Gehrig than for Ruth: .357 vs.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
