curveball
Americannoun
-
curveballs
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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:
Talk about inspiration: It was as if Clayton Kershaw had seen a kid throw a curveball and said, “Not bad.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
I never expected life to throw me this curveball.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
But a scheduling curveball this year is shaking up the routine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
But only moments after the game's traitors were selected, a huge curveball was thrown when Richard E Grant did something no one has done on the show before.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
His eyes squint; he’s probably nervous about the curveball I’m throwing his way.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
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
“Can’t wait to see him trade home runs for heel leads and curveballs for cha-cha-cha,” Hough wrote on Instagram.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
To be fair, they have been thrown some major curveballs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
All he did was set the Say Hey Kid down swinging — on three straight curveballs.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
