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.
He has just 14 singles, resulting in an overall batting average of .236.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026
It’s one thing to hit for a low batting average with 30 homers.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026
His career batting average was .293, he hit 287 home runs and had 1,365 runs batted in.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2026
Although Lopes’ lifetime batting average was .263, he had an excellent eye, walking nearly as many times as he struck out and logging an excellent .349 on-base percentage.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 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.
