ball game

or ballgame

noun

1. any game played with a ball, especially baseball or softball.
2. Informal. a situation and all its attendant circumstances: Compare new ball game.

   Having a new administration in power changes the entire ball game at city hall.

3. Archaeology. a ceremonial game of both ritual and sporting significance, played by teams on a ball court in Mesoamerican cultures from the Preclassic period to the Spanish conquest.

ball game

noun

1. any game played with a ball
2. a game of baseball
3. informal.
   a situation; state of affairs (esp in the phrase a whole new ball game )

Word History and Origins

Origin of ball game¹

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Example Sentences

“If anything got in the way of a rodeo, like a ball game, the ball game would have to wait,” Clyde Frost said.

From The Daily Beast

And unlike Collins, Sam was doing it at the beginning of his career—a whole other ball game.

From The Daily Beast

Mocking America in person, to its collective face, is a whole new ball game—and one without much precedent.

From The Daily Beast

Girra was a powerful figure in the metropolitan pin-ball game syndicate and had a piece of the number policy racket too.

From Project Gutenberg

And you know folks are always in a hurry when they're going to a ball game—especially boys.

From Project Gutenberg

In the Middle Ages, tennis—the oldest ball-game known—was a favorite sport of kings and of those about them.

From Project Gutenberg

This is the way the one-time cricketer and football champion viewed his first ball game.

From Project Gutenberg

On the third day of December notices appeared on the bulletin board announcing the first basket ball game of the season.

From Project Gutenberg