noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A pitch of a baseball that has been partly covered with saliva, illegal at most levels.
2. 2
   an illegal pitch in which a foreign substance (spit or Vaseline) is applied to the ball by the pitcher before they throw it wordnet
3. 3
   A balled-up piece of paper, moistened with saliva (by chewing) and shot through a drinking straw.
4. 4
   a projectile made by chewing a piece of paper and shaping it into a sphere wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   To moisten the ball with saliva before pitching it.
2. 2
   To brainstorm ideas. figuratively

   "Maybe, and I'm just spitballing here, maybe, we have a responsibility as officers to train Santiago."

Synonyms

All synonyms

bowlcastchange of pacechange-upchuckchunk

Example

More examples

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

Etymology

From spit + ball.

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