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ballpark - 3 dictionary results

ball⋅park

  [bawl-pahrk]
Use ballpark in a Sentence
–noun
1. a tract of land where ball games, esp. baseball, are played.
2. a baseball stadium.
–adjective
3. Informal. being an approximation, based on an educated guess: Give me a ballpark figure on our total expenses for next year.
—Idiom
4. in the ballpark, Informal. within reasonable, acceptable, or expected limits: The price may go up another $10, but that's still in the ballpark.
Also, ball park.

Origin:
1895–1900, Americanism; ball 1 + park
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To ballpark
ball·park   (bôl'pärk')   
n.  
  1. A park or stadium in which ball games are played.
  2. Slang The approximately proper range, as of possibilities or alternatives: Your estimate is high, but still in the ballpark.
adj.  
  1. Of, relating to, or used in a park or stadium: ballpark lights; ballpark seating.
  2. Slang Being approximately proper in range: gave a ballpark estimate of future unit sales.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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ballpark 
"baseball stadium," 1899, from (base)ball + park. Fig. sense of "acceptable range of approximation" first recorded 1960, originally referring to area within which a spacecraft was expected to return to earth; the reference is to broad but reasonably predictable dimensions.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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