comebacker

noun

come·​back·​er ˈkəm-ˌba-kər 

plural comebackers

1

baseball : a ground ball hit directly to the pitcher

… Cormier had retired Mo Vaughn … on a weak comebacker to the mound to end the seventh.

—Gordon Edes

2

golf : a putt back to the hole after a preceding putt has rolled past it

After pitching to within 20 feet of the pin, Junior runs his first putt four feet past and then misses the comebacker.

—Jaime Diaz

Examples of comebacker in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Right-hander Jason Alexander, fighting for spot on Houston’s Opening Day roster, gave up two hard singles to Juan Soto and Bo Bichette with one out in the first inning, with Bichette hitting the pitcher with a comebacker. —Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 24 Feb. 2026

Order had barely been restored when Toronto’s George Springer smoked a comebacker off Wrobleski for a single, putting runners on first and second with one out. —Dennis Lin, New York Times, 2 Nov. 2025

Pitcher Orion Kerkering mishandled a comebacker, opting to throw home instead of first with the bases loaded and two outs. —Melinda Yao, NBC news, 11 Oct. 2025

Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages hit a comebacker to Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering, who tossed an errant throw to home. —Valentina Martinez, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1954, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for comebacker

• firecracker
• acker
• backer
• blacker
• cracker
• hacker
• lacquer
• packer
• slacker
• stacker
• thacker
• tracker