ball game

noun

variants or ballgame

ˈbȯl-ˌgām 

plural ball games or ballgames

1

: a game played with a ball

We have to take care of the basketball. If you don't have the basketball it's hard to win a ball game.

—LaToya Bennett, quoted in The Huntsville (Texas) Item

… returned a punt for a touchdown in the first half of the football game to help Georgia earn their first points of the ball game.

—Jonathan Williams

especially, US : a baseball game

… Lyons was thrown out trying to steal third to end the ball game …

—Mark Starr

2

informal

a

: a set of circumstances : situation

Driving in Britain is a different ball game.

—Robert Lacville

… once that blaze surged across the river, it would be a whole new ball game.

—Jeffrey J. Smith

b

: contest sense 1

… on Mar. 17, the candidates must stagger to high-stakes caucuses in Michigan, Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Kentucky. The ball game could be over by Mar. 20 …

—Business Week

Synonyms

• battle
• combat
• competition
• conflict
• confrontation
• contention
• contest
• dogfight
• duel
• face-off
• grapple
• match
• rivalry
• strife
• struggle
• sweepstakes
• sweep-stake
• tug-of-war
• war
• warfare

Examples of ball game in a Sentence

He was popular because he was good at ball games.

Dad took us to a ball game.

watching a ball game on TV

Recent Examples on the Web

In the effort of a miracle, Madsen threw another interception, all but icing the ball game. —Ryan Morik, Fox News, 1 Jan. 2025

Kansas City continues to take one-possession ball games, which have rounded out its NFL-leading 15-1 record. —David Faris, Newsweek, 27 Dec. 2024

However, each of the ball players provides the Yankees with defensive stability, veteran leadership and an entirely different approach on how to win ball games without relying heavily on home runs. —Wayne G. McDonnell, Jr., Forbes, 14 Dec. 2024

That won’t happen now because the demographic in America is different, the ball games, those battleground states. —Asher Notheis, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 31 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1760, in the meaning defined at sense 1