as in substitutes
a person or thing that takes the place of another
the business owners brought in a pinch hitter until a permanent manager could be hired
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 pinch hitters
Agnifilo, Kaplan and Geragos are joining Weinstein’s team as pinch hitters ahead of his next appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court on March 4, with a trial date still to be set for the outstanding third-degree rape charge concerning an alleged assault on aspiring actor Jessica Mann in 2013.
—
Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2026
The Jays used four pinch hitters and defensive substitutions.
—Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2025
The club went silently in the bottom of the ninth, with pinch hitters Carlos Narvaez, Rob Refsnyder and Nick Sogard going down 1-2-3.
—Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 18 Sep. 2025
There’s also pressure on the bench because teammates, like pinch hitters, never know when they may be subbed in.
—Candace Oehler, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2026
The Jays used four pinch hitters and defensive substitutions.
—Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2025
The club went silently in the bottom of the ninth, with pinch hitters Carlos Narvaez, Rob Refsnyder and Nick Sogard going down 1-2-3.
—Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 18 Sep. 2025
There’s also pressure on the bench because teammates, like pinch hitters, never know when they may be subbed in.
—Candace Oehler, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pinch hitters
Noun
-
The restrictions spurred Chinese chipmakers and tech giants to double down on local manufacturing investments, with companies like Huawei developing AI processors as partial substitutes for Nvidia’s top-end chips.—
Nicholas Gordon,
Fortune,
6 Mar. 2026
-
Material World is a weekly roundup of innovations and ideas within the materials sector, covering what’s changing in how fashion is made, scaled or engineered from emerging biomaterials and alternative leathers to sustainable substitutes and future-proof fibers.—
Alexandra Harrell,
Sourcing Journal,
5 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
But history lacks good examples of air campaigns that have easily toppled regimes and led to replacements that the attackers preferred.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
1 Mar. 2026
-
In this scenario, the CJNG would fracture into smaller, warring factions, producing more obscene levels of bloodshed as potential replacements try to prove their mettle.—
Daniel DePetris,
Mercury News,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In a nice touch, all reseller plans use NVMe storage, LiteSpeed web servers, 30-day backups, free SSL certificates for all clients, malware scanning and removal, and firewalls for enhanced security.—
Gabriel Zamora,
PC Magazine,
8 Mar. 2026
-
Derick Hall and Boye Mafe were their backups.—
Michael-Shawn Dugar,
New York Times,
5 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pinch hitters.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pinch%20hitters. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
