home plate

American  

noun

Baseball.

home plates plural

1. 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.

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home plate British  

noun

1. 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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• home plates
  plural

Etymology

Origin of home plate

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

home plate

All the tickets in Irvine put you right behind home plate, because there are barely 1,000 seats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

On Tuesday, cameras caught Rushing muttering something after looking back at the Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee, who was in discomfort after an awkward slide at home plate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026

In the sixth inning of Tuesday’s game, Rushing tagged out Jung Hoo Lee at home plate to end the inning.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026

From 1995 to 2005, the MLB rule book defined strikes as the area over home plate from the midpoint between the shoulders and the top of the pants, down to the bottom of the knees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026

He had talked about some nice seats behind home plate.

From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson