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

Gabriel Moreno hit an RBI double down the right-field foul line, Perdomo added his two-run double, Ketel Marte hit an RBI groundout and Corbin Carroll brought home the final run on a sacrifice fly. —CBS News, 6 May 2026

The Pistons were 27-of-35 from the foul line to the Cavs’ 15-of-16. —Joe Vardon, New York Times, 6 May 2026

Queta was open at the foul line, his arms raised, with Joel Embiid trailing him. —Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 4 May 2026

Beran dumped a double onto the foul line in left field with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Geneva (19-3, 8-2) the lead for good. —Paul Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 2 May 2026

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)