curveball

American

[kurv-bawl] / ˈkɜrvˌbɔl /

Or curve ball

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.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

curveballs

plural

Etymology

Origin of curveball

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

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.

See Examples For:

curveball curveballs

I never expected life to throw me this curveball.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026

Four of the last five outs he’d recorded were strikeouts, with a different putaway pitch for each: slider, sinker, curveball, changeup.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

A packed Commons chamber, with curveball questions, hostile opposition politicians and the biggest TV and online audience of the week will be a world away from his nine years as Mayor of Greater Manchester.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

Brian Jacobsen was heading into a meeting Wednesday when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threw a major curveball at the U.S. bond market.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

The Mud Hens had a roster slot, and the scout had a notion to fill it with the pitcher with the wicked curveball, name of Earl Grayson.

From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli

Snell then struck out Sean Murphy to end the inning, finishing the at-bat with three straight curveballs for strikes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

Alaska has struggled with rising fuel costs in recent months, and it has faced curveballs such as IT outages last year and harsh weather that dented demand for trips to Hawaii.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

He threw three straight curveballs to Carrigg, bouncing the first and last in the dirt, and Carrigg swung at all three.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

No curveballs, but then there was never going to be.

From BBC ● May 19, 2026

All he did was set the Say Hey Kid down swinging — on three straight curveballs.

From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023