Meaning

28 senses

  1. (countable, uncountable)A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.

    a ball of spittle; a fecal ball

  2. A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.

    (countable, uncountable)A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape.

    a ball of wool; a ball of twine

    Knäuel

    клубо́кklubók

    клубо́кklubók

    an object with a spherical shape

  3. (countable, uncountable)A food preparation formed into a spherical shape.

    This dish is served with balls of potato.

  4. Homologue or analogue of a disk in the Euclidean plane.

    (countable, uncountable)In 3-dimensional Euclidean space, the volume bounded by a sphere.

  5. (countable, uncountable)The set of points in a metric space of any number of dimensions lying within a given distance (the radius) of a given point.

    Kugel

    шарšar

  6. (countable, uncountable)The set of points in a topological space lying within some open set containing a given point.

  7. A solid, spherical nonexplosive missile for a cannon, rifle, gun, etc.

    (countable, uncountable)A jacketed non-expanding bullet, typically of military origin.

  8. (countable, uncountable)A roundish, protuberant portion of some part of the body.

    the ball of the thumb

  9. A roundish, protuberant portion of some part of the body.

    (countable, uncountable)The front of the bottom of the foot, just behind the toes.

    Fußballen

    поду́шечкаpodúšečka

  10. (countable, uncountable)The globe; the earthly sphere.

    c. 1712', Joseph Addison, Ode to the Creator of the World What, though in solemn Silence, all / Move round the dark terrestrial Ball!

  11. (countable)An object that is the focus of many sports and games, in which it may be thrown, caught, kicked, bounced, rolled, chased, retrieved, hit with an instrument, spun, etc., usually roughly spherical or ovoid but whose size, weight, bounciness, colour, etc. differ according to the game

    round object that is hit or thrown or kicked in games

  12. An object that is the focus of many sports and games, in which it may be thrown, caught, kicked, bounced, rolled, chased, retrieved, hit with an instrument, spun, etc., usually roughly spherical or ovoid but whose size, weight, bounciness, colour, etc. differ according to the game

    (uncountable)Any sport or game involving a ball; its play, literally or figuratively.

    The children were playing ball on the beach.

    George played his college ball at Stanford.

Examples

1338 sentences

  1. Throw the ball back to me.

    Кинь мені м'яч назад. — deniko

    ruБрось мяч мне назад. — sharptoothed

    deWirf mir den Ball zurück! — Tamy

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. Hold the ball in both hands.

    Тримай м'яч обома руками. — deniko

    ruДержи мяч обеими руками. — soweli_Elepanto

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. Hold the ball with both hands.

    Тримай м'яч обома руками. — deniko

    ruДержи мяч обеими руками. — soweli_Elepanto

    deHalt den Ball mit beiden Händen fest. — al_ex_an_der

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. The ball is in your court.

    Ініціатива на вашому боці. — deniko

    ruТвоя очередь. — nadya

    deDu bist an der Reihe. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. Do you have a soccer ball?

    У тебе є футбольний м'яч? — miketheknight

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 6
solid or hollow sphere:
object, generally spherical, used for playing games:
ballistics: a solid nonexplosive missile:
testicle — see also testicle:
quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape:
formal dance:
Русский
By meaning 9
solid or hollow sphere:
object, generally spherical, used for playing games:
ballistics: a solid nonexplosive missile:
testicle — see also testicle:
quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape:
anatomy: ball of a foot:
baseball: a pitch that falls outside the strike zone:
mildly vulgar slang: nonsense:
formal dance:
Deutsch
By meaning 7
solid or hollow sphere:
object, generally spherical, used for playing games:
testicle — see also testicle:
quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape:
anatomy: ball of a foot:
mildly vulgar slang: nonsense:
formal dance:

Origin

From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from an unattested Old English *beall, *bealla (“rou

From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from an unattested Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz, *ballô (“ball”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰol-n- (“ball, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, inflate, swell”).

From Middle French bal, from Middle French baler (“to dance”), from Old French baller, from Late Latin ballō (“to dance”). Doublet of baile.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: balls
Singularball
Pluralballs

regular

Synonyms

26 synonyms
nonsense:nonsenseB1
courage:gutsB2nerveB2chutzpah
sphereB1globeA2blastB2whale of a time
testicle:testicle
Close in meaning
  • a lavish dance requiring formal attire:formal
  • a compact mass:clodgloblumpclumpchunk
  • United States comedienne best known as the star of a popular television program (1911-1989):Lucille Ball
  • an object with a spherical shape:globeorb
  • a solid projectile that is shot by a musket:musket ball
  • a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs:baseballbaseball game

Word family

496 related words
RelatedballadB2balletB2ballade
DerivedbaseballA1basketballA1cannonballB2footballA1snowballB2volleyballA1airballair ballalley ballanchor ballarm ballbackballbadminton ballbait ballball alleyball-and-pillow structureball-and-socket jointball-and-stick modelballbagball bearingball boyball-bustballbustingball-by-ball

Lessons for this word

1 lessons

Collocations

12 patterns
  • throw the ball
  • catch the ball
  • balls balls
  • hit the ball
  • kicked the ball
  • the ball with
  • tennis balls balls
  • the ball rolling
  • the ball to
  • soccer ball
  • balls balls are
  • a golf ball

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
balebalkballadB2ballerinaballetB2
ball — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto