passed ball

noun

: a baseball pitch not hit by the batter that passes the catcher when it should have been caught and allows a base runner to advance
one of his trick pitches shot by his catcher for a passed ball—John Drebinger
compare wild pitch

Examples of passed ball in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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.
The first few innings weren’t pretty for either team, with errors, passed balls and misplays. — Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 18 June 2026 In last week's loss to Duke, passed balls and mental lapses on defense doomed A&M. — Zoe Collins Rath, Austin American Statesman, 20 Feb. 2026 But Wrobleski didn’t allow another hit in his five innings and only three more baserunners (two walks and a third strike passed ball by Rushing). — Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 7 Apr. 2026 The most consequential miscues, however, came on Turner’s two-base passed ball the following inning. — Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 3 May 2024 See All Example Sentences for passed ball

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of passed ball was in 1860

Rhymes for passed ball

See All Rhymes for passed ball

Browse Nearby Words

passecaille
passed ball
passe-dix
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Passed ball.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/passed%20ball. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All