to hit the ball
34
1.0
- phrasal verb
:
golpear la pelota
- In tennis, you need to hit the ball accurately to win points.
- hit the ball hard
And fucking Jeff says, God, you're really hitting the ball great today.
- And fucking Jeff says, God, you're really hitting the ball great today.
- And I was like, what a home run, bro, You hit the ball out the park, bro.
- So I think like with anything, you know, when you start out playing golf, like your goal is to just hit the ball right?
- And much like when you watch sports on television, you see that best of real, you know, when they catch the ball and hit the ball and it just looks amazing.
- Sometimes you have to hit the ball five times over, right, the net before they return the ball to you.
- Yeah, but wait, Dave, if you're trying to hit the ball, some of what matters is the momentum that the the cue stick has that you're imparting on the ball.
- Instead, the shock of like both of us hitting the ball.
- And then every time I hit the ball, I'd go do know, do know, do you know?
- Not, not, it doesn't mean to like of your own right, but hit the ball back and forth.
- But careers that last, that doesn't happen unless there's something that you know is connecting and they're hitting the ball.
Examples
-
And they said you can swing in such a way so that if you hit the ball, it goes where you want.
-
The coach taught us how to hit the ball using a proper grip.
-
Sometimes you have to hit the ball five times over, right, the net before they return the ball to you.
-
Yeah, you hit the ball flat compared to a lot of people.
-
You know you have to hit the ball.
-
"See the ball, hit the ball."
-
Most of them tried to hit the ball too hard, and the ball got out of control.
Academic text (2004) -
Our students could not even hit the ball back and forth under control.
Academic text (2004) -
The Indians hit the ball hard and put runners on base all evening.
Fiction book (1998) -
In my first two at-bats, I hit the ball hard and far, making two home runs.
Academic text (1990)
Synonyms
553
2.4
To hit someone or something with force
299
1.3
To try to score by sending a ball toward the goal
50
3.3
To hit something with great force, often in sport
49
1.3
To hit or try to hit a ball in a game
36
3.5
To hit a ball hard to make it go far
34
2.5
Hit the ball so it goes where you want
23
5.3
To hit a ball to give it spin
10
4.7
Hit the ball or shuttlecock hard to try to win a point
9
3.5
To hit a ball with a smooth, controlled movement in sports
4
7.6
To hit the upper part of a ball so it spins forward
1
4.2
To hit a ball before it touches the ground in sports
1
4.6
To hit a ball with your head, usually in football or soccer
To hit a ball hard so it goes far
Antonyms
How Hard
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to strike a ball' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'hit' (to strike) with 'ball' (a round play object); the definite article 'the' is functionally irrelevant. This compositional action-verb + object pattern is cross-linguistically common and therefore immediately predictable for a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Hit the ball comes from the simple image of a player swinging a bat or racket and making the ball fly away when they hit it. That's why it means 'to strike a ball' in sports today.