Meaning

2 senses
  1. To moisten the ball with saliva before pitching it.

  2. (figuratively)To brainstorm ideas.

Examples

5 sentences
  1. Scientists have created a forcefield that only repels spitballs.

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  2. Whoever's throwing spitballs at me, stop if you know what's good for you.

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  3. I'm just spitballing here.

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  4. He explained that the teacher had fallen asleep and several boys had started throwing spitballs.

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  5. Daniel spit a spitball at Amanda's head.

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Origin

From spit + ball.

From spit + ball.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

spitballs, spitballing, spitballed, spitballed
Base formspitball · to spitball
3rd person singularspitballs
Present participlespitballing
Past simplespitballed
Past participlespitballed

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyspitball
he, she, itspitballs

Past simpleLesson

all personsspitballed

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave spitballed
he, she, ithas spitballed

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill spitball

Word family

1 related words
Derivedspitballer

See also

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