wild pitch

[ wahyld-pich ]
See synonyms for wild pitch on Thesaurus.com
nounBaseball.
  1. a pitched ball that the catcher misses and could not be expected to catch, allowing one or more base runners to advance one or more bases.

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Origin of wild pitch

1
An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Words Nearby wild pitch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wild pitch in a sentence

  • It seemed to rouse him from his dreamy state, and awakened him to a wild pitch of excitement.

    Nic Revel | George Manville Fenn
  • Lindsay pressed a finger against his nose, which had been broken in youth by a wild pitch.

    The Ambassador | Samuel Kimball Merwin
  • A wild pitch, the only one of the game, advanced Mylert a base.

Other Idioms and Phrases with wild pitch

wild pitch

A careless statement or action, as in Calling comic books great literature—that's a wild pitch. This term comes from baseball, where it signifies a pitched ball so far off target that the catcher misses it, enabling a base runner to advance. [Mid-1900s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.