home plate

American

noun

Baseball.

the base at which the batter stands and which a base runner must reach safely in order to score a run, typically a five-sided slab of whitened rubber set at ground level at the front corner of the diamond.

home plate British

noun

Also called: plate. home. home base. baseball a flat often five-sided piece of hard rubber or other material that serves to define the area over which the pitcher must throw the ball for a strike and that a base runner must safely reach on his way from third base to score a run

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

home plates

plural

Etymology

Origin of home plate

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

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:

home plate

During the top of the seventh inning, the squirrel found his way between the mound and home plate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

During the Dodgers-A’s game in Sacramento, a fan in a Mexico jersey erupted in a thunderous “GOOOAL!” behind home plate after El Tri scored during a World Cup match thousands of miles away.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026

But, in a full count, home plate umpire Cory Blaser called it strike three.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

One bright afternoon, Obama took in a baseball game with then-President Raúl Castro, the leaders of longtime enemy nations chatting behind home plate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026

He guessed it was twice the distance from home plate to the center field wall.

From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret

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