ball game
/ˈbɔːl ˌɡeɪm/ noun
Forms ball games ballgame
- noun Any game played with a ball. “Basketball, cricket, and football are three kinds of ball game.”
- noun A specific contest or match between teams playing such a game, in particular a baseball game. “George and Harriet went to the stadium to see the ball game.”
- noun (historical) A sport played in the Aztec and Mayan civilizations; Mesoamerican ballgame. “The ball game was the main sport in Central America before the arrival of the Spanish.”
- noun (figurative) Affair, issue, matter, subject, story, topic.
- noun (figurative, slang) A decisive outcome in regard to some ongoing situation; game over. “If a U.S. presidential candidate receives 270 electoral votes, that's the ball game.”
Synonyms
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “ball game”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details