Definition of curveball
: a slow or moderately fast baseball pitch thrown with spin to make it swerve downward and usually to the left when thrown from the right hand or to the right when thrown from the left hand
curveball
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Examples of curveball in a Sentence
The batter struck out on a curveball.
Recent Examples of curveball from the Web
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My curveball was working, and the cutter inside felt pretty good, too.
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A motion that has been described as unorthodox and a capable curveball hasn't hurt, either.
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Rodriguez would miss with a first-pitch curveball before evening the count with a changeup for a strike.
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Hill harrumphed when umpire Mike Winters declined to award him a strike on a full-count curveball at the top of the zone.
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He was known for a lively fastball, a hitter-freezing curveball and a tendency to throw at hitters who crowded the plate.
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Any hope of an inning-ending double play was crushed on a curveball that Zunino couldn’t keep in front of him.
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The assault charge is a last-minute curveball in Thursday's race, which was partly seen as a referendum on Trump's presidency.
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Sanders jumped on a 75 mph curveball and hit it into the eating area outside Friday’s Front Row restaurant in the second deck in left field.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'curveball'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
1936
First Known Use of curveball
1936
CURVEBALL Defined for English Language Learners
curveball
play
noun
Definition of curveball for English Language Learners
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baseball : a pitch that is thrown with spin so that the ball curves in the air
Learn More about curveball
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