left field
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left field
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left-field
left-fieldadjectiveregarded as being outside the mainstream; unconventional
left field
Americannoun
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Baseball.
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the area of the outfield to the left of center field, as viewed from home plate.
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the position of the player covering this area.
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Slang. a position or circumstance that is remote from an ordinary or general trend.
idioms
left-field
British
adjective
left field
More Idioms
Etymology
Origin of left field
An Americanism dating back to 1855–60
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:
When a moment like that comes up that’s completely out of left field — unlike anything that I can remember on the show, even from before you were host — do you get nervous?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
The warning is not coming out of left field.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
“There are legitimate water quality threats that we need to attack and rectify in a regulatory manner. And then there are things that are out in the left field that just distract people,” Donley said.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
The clear winner, out of left field, was Brazilian jiu-jitsu: a relatively new art accepted so rapidly that we already knew the basics from our Army combatives course.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
The Henry County Hurricane stands erupt with cheers: their batter just smashed the ball out into deep left field.
From "Fast Pitch" by Nic Stone
Three innings later, he sent another ball soaring into the left-field bleachers at Wrigley Field, making Báez just the eighth player since 1900 to hit multiple home runs in his debut.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Marte lined it into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen in the left-field corner.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
In his first at-bat of the game, he lifted a solo home run into the left-field bleachers and trotted around the bases to a chorus of boos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
But it was a more left-field statement that caught Styles' attention.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
Ben-Ben wears number twenty-five, and he started our three-run rally last inning by ripping a double into the left-field corner.
From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner
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.
