softball

CEFRB1

/sˈɔˌftbɔl/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

Examples

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

The ball used to play the sport.
A game similar to baseball but played with a larger and softer ball which can be thrown overhand or underhand.

In context

The boys played softball.
a softball interview
This will give you someone with whom you can trade softball complaints, which any veteran game-goer will tell you is the key to a good time.

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Question 1 · Quick check

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The word in print, with each source given in full.

This will give you someone with whom you can trade softball complaints, which any veteran game-goer will tell you is the key to a good time.
1996, Andrew Heller, Come Heller High Water, →ISBN, page 55
Each man got his share of softballs on Friday night. But for 90 minutes in a dressed-up basketball arena at Washington University, the two candidates were also forced to address the kind of questions they get rarely if ever on the campaign trail: from voters who doubted them and maybe did not even like them very much.
2004 September 10, James Bennett, “In a Disguised Gym, Softballs and Political Drama”, in The New York Times
He [Ben Shapiro] wielded a particularly pointed arrow at Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, for engaging in what he said was “an act of moral imbecility,” by recently airing a softball interview with Nick Fuentes, an avowed antisemite.
2025 December 20, Richard Fausset, Ken Bensinger, quoting Ben Shapiro, “Turning Point’s Annual Gathering Turns Into a Gripefest”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

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1926: soft + ball. Compare hardball.