Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
×

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

home plate

noun

Definition of home plate

  1. :  a 5-sided rubber slab at one corner of a baseball diamond at which a batter stands when batting and which must be touched by a base runner in order to score

See home plate defined for English-language learners

See home plate defined for kids

Explore Merriam-Webster

alt-594d2b6325245
'Pride': The Word That Went From Vice to Strength
alt-594ab41a604d2
Trending: Kim and Kanye Might Have Hired a Surrogate Mother
image599301899
Pretty in 'Pink'
istock-refers-to-this-as-a-tumble-of-strawberries-which-sounded-pretty-nice-to-us
June 2017 Words of the Day Quiz

Examples of home plate in a Sentence

  1. The runner was tagged out at home plate.

1869

First Known Use of home plate

1869

HOME PLATE Defined for English Language Learners

home plate

noun

Definition of home plate for English Language Learners

  • baseball : the base that a runner must touch in order to score

HOME PLATE Defined for Kids

home plate

noun

Definition of home plate for Students

  1. :  the base that a baseball runner must touch to score

Learn More about home plate

  1. See words that rhyme with home plate Spanish Central: Translation of home plate Nglish: Translation of home plate for Spanish speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about home plate

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up home plate? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show hide

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

WORD OF THE DAY

argy-bargy

play

a lively discussion

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. surrogate mother From TMZ to the dictionary.

  2. zealot A fanatical partisan

  3. stonewall to be uncooperative, obstructive, or evasive

  4. scurrilous Containing obscenities, abuse, or slander

  5. depose That word might not mean what you think it means.

SEE ALL

BROWSE DICTIONARY

home plate

WORD GAMES

Take a 3-minute break and test your skills!

  • istock-refers-to-this-as-a-tumble-of-strawberries-which-sounded-pretty-nice-to-us
  • Which is a synonym of garner?
How Strong Is Your Vocabulary?

Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!

TAKE THE QUIZ
SCRABBLE® Sprint

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

alt-594d2b6325245
'Pride': The Word That Went From Vice to Strength

Do you take pride in Pride?

image599301899
Pink: The Color that Will Change Your Life

From Fuchsia to Baker-Miller Pink

image2144101468
That Sucks Word Alternatives

Your day is the worst. Your vocabulary is the best.

alt-5931949575ca5
'All the Feels,' All the Time

Once more, with 'feels'

Ask the Editors

decimate-video
Is it wrong to use 'decimate' to mean 'destroy'?

Language changes

serial-comma
The Serial Comma

Why don't they call it the Merriam-Webster comma?

video-irregardless-grammar-peeve-blend-of-the-synonyms-irrespective-and-regardless
Irregardless

It is in fact a real word (but that doesn't mean you should use it).

video-moose-goose-weird-plurals
Weird Plurals

One goose, two geese. One moose, two... moose. What's up with that?

Word Games

istock-refers-to-this-as-a-tumble-of-strawberries-which-sounded-pretty-nice-to-us
June 2017 Words of the Day Quiz

Summer's first WOTD quiz.

Take the quiz
alt-5941ad7527c3c
Yearbook Superlatives Quiz

Is that your picture under "Largest Vocabulary"?

Take the quiz
How Strong Is Your Vocabulary?
How Strong Is Your Vocabulary?

Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!

Take the quiz
SCRABBLE® Sprint
SCRABBLE® Sprint

SCRABBLE® fans, sharpen your skills!

Play the game
Examples: home plate in a Sentence