foul line

noun

1

: either of two straight lines extending from the rear corner of home plate through the outer corners of first and third base respectively and prolonged to the boundary of a baseball field

2

: a line across a bowling alley that a player must not step over when delivering the ball

3

: either of two lines on a basketball court parallel to and 15 feet from the backboards behind which a player must stand while shooting a free throw

Examples of foul line in a Sentence

The ball landed just inside the right-field foul line.

Recent Examples on the Web

Powell closed Wednesday’s loss with 23 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field, 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range and 9-of-9 shooting from the foul line in 30 minutes. —Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 8 Nov. 2025

Jester’s final 3-pointer capped a 9-2 surge that trimmed the deficit to five points with 20 seconds left, before CBU ended the threat from the foul line. —Oc Register, 8 Nov. 2025

Drew Eubanks gave the Kings a 5-4 lead 2 minutes into the first quarter, and Sacramento didn’t lead again until Kuminga sent Nique Clifford to the foul line early in the third quarter, allowing the Kings to briefly pull ahead 67-66. —Evan Webeck, Mercury News, 6 Nov. 2025

In the first half against the Bucks, the Kings went 14 of 16 at the foul line with a 36-30 advantage on points in the paint. —Jason Anderson, Sacbee.com, 2 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1868, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for foul line

• affine
• airline
• align
• aline
• assign
• baseline
• beamline
• benign
• bloodline
• bovine
• byline
• canine

Kids Definition

foul line

noun

1

: either of two straight lines running from the rear corner of home plate through first and third base on to the boundary of a baseball field

2

: a line across which a player must not step (as when bowling or shooting a free throw)