crystal ball

American  

noun

crystal balls plural

1. a ball of clear crystal, glass, or the like, used in crystal gazing.

2. a method or means of predicting the future.

---

crystal ball British  

noun

1. the glass globe used in crystal gazing

---

crystal ball Idioms  

1. A means of predicting the future, as in So what does your crystal ball say about the coming election? The term is a figurative use of the crystal or glass ball used by fortune-tellers. [c. 1900]

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• crystal balls
  plural

Etymology

Origin of crystal ball

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

crystal ball

History isn’t a crystal ball, but certain historical moments become magnifying glasses, highlighting truths today’s political passions obscure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

"Without a crystal ball nobody can know what is going to happen" to producers' and farmers' costs at the moment these contracts are signed.

From BBC ● May 24, 2026

“We don’t have a crystal ball, because we’re still at war,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 13, 2026

“If I had a crystal ball I could tell you now what is going to happen,” Heimo Schirgi, the World Cup chief operating officer for FIFA, said Monday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026

He concentrated so hard that something inside him cracked—as if a crystal ball had shattered in his stomach.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan