What does baseball mean?
Baseball is a bat-and-ball team sport played between two teams of nine players, in which one team bats while the other fields. A player on the batting side strikes a pitched ball with a rounded wooden or metal bat and then runs counterclockwise around four bases arranged in a diamond, scoring a run by returning safely to home plate. The word also denotes the ball itself — a small, hard sphere of cork or rubber wrapped in yarn and covered in stitched white leather. Baseball developed in North America during the nineteenth century from older English bat-and-ball games such as rounders, and it became deeply embedded in American culture, earning the affectionate label of the 'national pastime.' Today it is played professionally at the highest level in Major League Baseball and is also popular in Japan, South Korea, much of Latin America, and elsewhere. The term is neutral in register and appears both in sporting contexts and in casual conversation about games, seasons, and memorabilia.
A team game played between two sides of nine players each, in which batters try to hit a pitched ball and run around four bases to score runs.
"Rain delayed the start of the baseball game by two hours."
The ball used in the game of baseball: a hard sphere of cork or rubber wound with yarn and covered in white leather with red stitching.
"The pitcher scuffed the baseball before throwing his signature curveball."
When referring to multiple balls used in the sport, the standard plural 'baseballs' applies. When referring to the sport itself, 'baseball' is typically treated as an uncountable noun and takes no plural.
"The equipment bag was stuffed with old baseballs and cracked bats."
Baseball evolved from older English bat-and-ball games like rounders — meaning America's 'national pastime' actually has British roots.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of baseball
Baseball arose in North America in the first half of the nineteenth century, evolving from older English bat-and-ball games such as rounders and early English 'base ball' variants. The compound simply joins the existing English words 'base' (from Old French/Latin basis, meaning a foundation or starting point) and 'ball' (from Old Norse böllr or a related Germanic source). Its modern rules were standardized in the United States, notably through the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York in the 1840s.
How baseball is actually used
In American English, 'baseball' is overwhelmingly associated with the sport and carries strong cultural connotations as the traditional 'national pastime' of the United States. The word is neutral in register. In everyday speech, 'baseball' (the sport) is sometimes distinguished from 'a baseball' (the object) only by context or by adding an article.
Easily confused with baseball
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played with eleven players per side, a flat bat, and no bases; baseball uses nine players, a rounded bat, and four bases.