batting average
Americannoun
-
Baseball. a measure of the batting ability of a player, obtained by dividing the number of base hits by the number of official times at bat and carrying out the result to three decimal places. A player with 100 base hits in 300 times at bat has a batting average of 0.333.
-
Informal. a degree of achievement or accomplishment in any activity.
Etymology
Origin of batting average
An Americanism dating back to 1865–70
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.
Batters across MLB put up a dismal .210 batting average against splitters last season, compared with .224 against sliders and sweepers and .225 against curveballs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
His .295 batting average was the third-best in the National League last season but still was not good enough for Freeman, a career .300 hitter.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026
“There wasn’t a 3 at the start of my batting average last year, and that irks me,” Freeman said last week.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026
In 103 career playoff games, Hernández carries a .826 on-base plus slugging percentage, a .272 batting average and a .486 slugging percentage.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 12, 2026
“He had a batting average of .245 this year,” said Doug Swieteck.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
Definitions 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.
