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.
Walker posted a .211 batting average and .595 on-base-plus slugging percentage over the past two seasons, leading to a 2024 demotion to Triple-A.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
The payments are the result of the Mets in 2000 deferring the last $5.9 million of his four-year contract after releasing him on the heels of a .160 batting average.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
He ranked among MLB’s worst hitters over the past two seasons, posting a dismal .211 batting average and .595 on-base-plus slugging percentage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Stokes' batting average as captain is worse than when he was in the ranks - 32 as skipper compared to almost 36 when not.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
During the first half of the season, Babe Ruth hits for a higher batting average than Lou Gehrig.
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.
