How to Use small ball in a Sentence

small ball

noun
  • Form the dough into small balls.
    — Marie Bladt, Vogue, 15 Nov. 2025
  • Add chickpea flour to the mixture and form small balls.
    — Merve Ceylan, Health, 25 Sep. 2025
  • Add chickpea flour to the mixture and form small balls.
    — Merve Ceylan, Health, 1 Apr. 2026
  • In the court of law, this is small ball and very difficult to prove.
    — Kate Dore, Cfp®, Ea, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2025
  • The Padres responded with small ball in the eighth.
    — Lamond Pope, Chicago Tribune, 4 May 2026
  • The bee would have to roll a small ball into the pit and climb on top to reach the flower.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 4 June 2026
  • His five bunt singles lead a team that has thrived with a small ball style of play this season.
    — Tom Layberger, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
  • Copeland said the Chanticleers are a gritty group that likes to win with small ball.
    — Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 29 May 2026
  • The Dodgers went ahead for good by playing small ball in the bottom of the inning.
    — CBS News, 26 Apr. 2026
  • In bandy, athletes on ice skates use curved sticks to try to shoot a small ball (not a puck) into the other team's net.
    — Rachel Treisman, NPR, 6 Feb. 2026
  • New Braunfels took the lead in the second inning by playing small ball.
    — Eric Moreno, San Antonio Express-News, 1 Apr. 2026
  • For the first, start by freezing ice cubes into small balls using a spherical tray.
    — Sophia Beams, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 Dec. 2025
  • The small balls of light moved through the sky near her hotel before blasting into a cloud of orange.
    — Timia Cobb breaking News Reporter, Dallas Morning News, 1 Mar. 2026
  • Milwaukee used speed and small ball to take a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
    — CBS News, 21 Apr. 2026
  • That — not any attempt at small ball — is American baseball.
    — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Though the club’s success with the small ball may not seem as sexy as the long ball, there is no lack of momentum built as a result.
    — Tom Layberger, Forbes.com, 17 May 2026
  • For the meatballs, combine ground beef with cornmeal, spices, and seasonings, then shape into small balls.
    — Maggie Meyer Glisan, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Feb. 2026
  • The Mets used small ball to build an early lead before turning the power on in the 5th inning.
    — David Matthews, New York Daily News, 17 Aug. 2025
  • They are sold as small balls, cakes, or flakes used to control clothes moths, silverfish, and other pests that feed on wool and other natural fibers.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 1 Jan. 2026
  • They are sold as small balls, cakes, or flakes used to control clothes moths, silverfish, and other pests that feed on wool and other natural fibers.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 1 July 2026
  • To make no-bake energy bites, stir ingredients together and roll into small balls.
    — Lindsey Desoto, Health, 1 Dec. 2025
  • Chicks dig the long ball, sure, but Miami is taking more of a small ball approach to scoring runs, and it's been working like a charm as of late.
    — Austin Perry, FOXNews.com, 27 June 2026
  • In the bottom of the fourth, small ball, heads-up baserunning and defensive miscues set the table for a Wolverines rally.
    — Tony Gleason, Daily News, 18 Apr. 2026
  • For extra color, decorate a lemon cypress with small ball ornaments or a festive bow in a contrasting color.
    — Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 Nov. 2025
  • So scoring is up, athleticism is up, prior era stars would still be valuable today, small ball doesn't lead to more runs and baseball is not losing fans, but gaining them.
    — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 1 July 2026
  • Boyd continued to roll with small ball in the fourth inning, taking the lead on a sacrifice bunt from AJ Sarto.
    — Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 June 2026
  • Making lifelong friends and playing small ball What has been your favorite softball memory for Lehman softball?
    — Rick Cantu, Austin American Statesman, 27 Feb. 2026
  • In an era that emphasizes power and bat speed, old school small ball has become something of a dying art, but Ward believes his skillset is still valuable in today’s game.
    — Mac Cerullo, Hartford Courant, 12 Mar. 2026
  • Bennett, making his second career start, navigated a tricky Rays lineup that uses speed and small ball to pressure the defense.
    — Jen McCaffrey, New York Times, 8 May 2026
  • The second tool, a rolling ball viscometer, determines viscosity by measuring how quickly a small ball travels through the liquid salt.
    — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 12 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'small ball.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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