Etymologically
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ballpark

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 23:45. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈbɔl(ˌ)pɑɹk/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English ball + park,[2][3][4] short for a baseball (or football) park.[3] The verb is a conversion of the noun.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A baseball stadium or ground: the OED's first record is from an Indiana newspaper of 1871,[2] and Merriam-Webster also dates the word to 1871.[5] Older dictionaries had later dates: 1893 in Etymonline,[3] 1897 in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate,[6] 1899 in the OED of 1989[7] and 1895–1900 in Dictionary.com, which marks it an Americanism.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the 1940s the size of a ballpark became a measure.[2][8] In US Air Force slang it was an area compared to a ballpark (1943), and in astronautics the area of ocean in which a returning capsule is expected to land.[2][9] The Phrase Finder quotes in the same ballpark from a Windsor Star sports column of February 1942, with in the right ballpark also from the 1940s.[8] The OED records the notional range within which comparisons or estimates can be made from 1945.[2] Etymonline dates in the ballpark, "within an acceptable range of approximation", to 1954, in the jargon of atomic weapons scientists, and suggests it referred to the area within which a missile was expected to come down: a range broad but reasonably predictable.[3] The ballpark figure, a rough estimate, was "Pentagon language" in a Des Moines Register article of 24 June 1957; a space agency answer with a "ball park figure" of 100 million dollars was printed in 1958, and ball park estimate in an Associated Press story of 1959.^(Popik|"Ballpark Figure (Ball Park Figure, Ball Park Estimate)", 20 November 2019) Popik links the phrase to the known dimensions of a ballpark, within which the ball usually stays.^(Popik|"Ballpark Figure (Ball Park Figure, Ball Park Estimate)", 20 November 2019) Dalzell also dates the slang sense "an approximate range" to 1957.[10] The adjective "approximate" is recorded from 1960 in the OED and Merriam-Webster,[2][5] 1967 in Etymonline and the Collegiate,[3][6] and the verb "to estimate roughly" from 1957.[2] By 1963 the noun was also used for a sphere of activity or expertise.[2]

Timeline

  • 1871 – a baseball stadium or ground.[2][5] Etymonline dates it to 1893.[3]
  • 1942 – in the same ballpark, comparable.[8]
  • 1943 – US Air Force slang, an area the size of a ballpark; later the landing area of a space capsule.[2]
  • 1945 – a notional range within which estimates or comparisons can be made.[2]
  • 1954 – in the ballpark, within an acceptable range, among atomic scientists.[3]
  • 1957 – ballpark figure, a rough estimate, as Pentagon language.^(Popik|"Ballpark Figure (Ball Park Figure, Ball Park Estimate)", 20 November 2019) The verb, to estimate roughly, also dates from 1957.[2]
  • 1960 – adjective, approximate, of a figure or estimate.[2][5] Etymonline dates it to 1967.[3]
  • 1963 – a sphere of activity, influence or expertise.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chiefly North American) A park or stadium where ball games, especially baseball, are played.[5][11][12]
  2. (informal) An approximate range, as of prices or views, within which comparison or estimates are possible: The builder's quote was nowhere near the ballpark.[5][11][12]
  3. in the ballpark: roughly correct; within a reasonable range.[5][2][9]
  4. A sphere of activity, influence or expertise.[2]
  5. (astronautics) The area within which a returning spacecraft or capsule is expected to come down.[2][9]

Adjective

  1. (informal) Approximate; roughly correct, of a figure or estimate: a ballpark figure of two million.[5][11][12][2]

Verb

  1. To estimate the approximate value or amount of something.[2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Martin, Gary, The Phrase Finder: Meaning and Origin of Phrases, Sayings, Clichés and Quotes, https://www.phrases.org.uk
  9. ^ a b c Encarta World English Dictionary (2009 ed.), Redmond: Microsoft
  10. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  11. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt