balled 1 of 2

balled

2 of 2

verb

past tense of ball
as in rolled
to form into a round compact mass balled up the paper and threw it at the garbage can

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of balled
Verb
Instead of being grateful, Quiggle balled his fist, continued to yell and fought with the deputy before being arrested, Linhardt said. David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 31 July 2026 The rayon-spandex knit is soft, stretchy, and virtually wrinkle-proof, so it can be balled into the corner of a tote bag as a backup outfit and still look fine at dinner. Robin Raven, Travel + Leisure, 15 July 2026 Then there’s Cofie, who balled his way into a draft combine invite this spring, and Rice, whose name will be known in draft circles soon enough. Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2026 Newly installed balled and burlapped plants need about 1 inch of water per week — be sure the root ball is getting watered. Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 28 June 2026 The explosion had balled me up, shoved me aside, and pelted me with hot stones. Will MacKin, New Yorker, 28 June 2026 Lord described Walter Bedford as the night baker who cannon-balled into the ocean in chapter 6. Veronica Hinke, Baltimore Sun, 14 June 2026 Jokic came off a pin-down from Braun to catch on the right wing — again making Gobert chase him around a screen — but air-balled the 3-pointer. Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 23 Apr. 2026 Bare root trees and shrubs, as the name suggests, are not sold in a pot or balled and burlapped. Dr. Lauren Kurtz, Hartford Courant, 21 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for balled
Adjective
  • The apartment, which Jordan rents for $2,300 and found on Westside Rentals, already had character including a Spanish-style rounded entryway that goes from the living room to the dining room.
    Lina Abascal, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2026
  • How to Identify Stiltgrass In its earliest stage, the seedlings of stiltgrass are easy to distinguish from those of other grasses because the first leaves are rounded.
    Nadia Hassani, The Spruce, 9 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Gauff lost the first game playing off her back foot, then leaned in and rolled.
    Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026
  • And then, on fourth down, a four-man rush absolutely rolled through the Fresno State front.
    Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2026
Adjective
  • Olivia Miles, the rookie point guard for the Minnesota Lynx, wears a pair of bug-eyed sports goggles, black and bulbous, sometimes held in place by a thick strap that runs through her luxuriant Afro.
    Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
  • The boat falls into a sewer, and, as the boy goes to retrieve it, a face appears out of darkness—a clown, with spotless, uncanny white skin, a bulbous red nose, and untamed red hair.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Growing up in rural Malawi, the Chawingas played with the boys in village pick up matches, using balls improvised from wadded up paper and plastic.
    Ryan Lenora Brown, Christian Science Monitor, 6 Aug. 2026
  • The Socks Are Inside Other Clothes Did the sock actually enter another space-time continuum—or did it get wadded up in someone's pant leg?
    Katie Cloyd, Martha Stewart, 5 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Some dots resemble pairs of eyes; others appear as overlapping roundish figures.
    Shanti Escalante-De Mattei, ARTnews.com, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Bieber’s stage was large, roundish, and mostly bare, with a hilly ridge around the edges.
    Vinson Cunningham, New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2026
Adjective
  • Spherical Link Design and Modular Cable Routing The foundation of the Robotrax system lies in its open, single-piece plastic links featuring spherical snap-on connections on both sides.
    IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The spherical structure, featuring a monolithic gyroid design, was 3D printed from silicon carbide.
    Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 27 Aug. 2026
Adjective
  • The Hubble Space Telescope captured this twinkling image of NGC 6723, or the Chandelier Cluster, a globular star cluster located 27,000 light-years away in our Milky Way galaxy.
    Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 21 Aug. 2026
  • The pieces are abstract but appear to show featureless human figures sitting atop globular, cloud-like shapes that float in the air.
    Ray Mark Rinaldi, Denver Post, 7 June 2026
Adjective
  • The comedy of Gilligan’s Island often centered on the interactions between the scrawny, clueless Gilligan and the rotund, impatient skipper.
    Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Natalia, again fearing a trap, hesitated to disembark—until the dawn light revealed the smiling face of the rotund Diego Rivera, flanked by Mexican Trotskyists and government officials.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 July 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Balled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balled. Accessed 14 Sep. 2026.

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