Fastball

noun, verb

noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
A high-speed pitch of a baseball.
"Cam Smith bounced to shortstop on a 100 mph fastball, and Jacob Melton also grounded out on an 86.9 mph curveball."
2
(baseball) a pitch thrown with maximum velocity wordnet
3
A four-seam fastball, which is a backspin pitch thrown with a ball gripped in the direction to cause four of the seams of the ball to cross the flight path and released with roughly equal pressure by the index and middle fingers specifically
"The pitcher had a blazing fastball."

Verb

1
To throw (something) at a high speed. transitive
"Kevin pushed away from the desk and fastballed it into the other man’s chest."

Synonyms

hummer bowl bullet cast change of pace change-up

Example

"See if you can catch my fastball."

Etymology

From fast (adjective) + ball.

Related phrases

fastball count split-fingered fastball bugs bunny change up change up cut fastball four seam fastball split finger fastball two seam fastball

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.