perfect game
15
6.1
- noun
- /ˈpɜrfɪkt ɡeɪm/
- Specialized
:
juego perfecto
- The pitcher celebrated after throwing a perfect game, marking a historic moment in his career.
- pitch a perfect game
- threw a perfect game
- play a perfect game
Examples
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And he is one out away from the perfect game.
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The first pitcher to pitch a perfect game.
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The perfect game appears to be the best measure of peak performance of a pitcher to date.
Academic text (1990) -
Billy Chapel has pitched a perfect game!
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Nine of the no-hitters pitched since 1900 were perfect games.
Academic text (1990) -
A pitcher is credited with a perfect game when he retires all 27 batters he faces in a nine-inning game.
Academic text (1990) -
During the championship, he achieved a perfect game by not allowing anyone to reach base.
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Her impressive performance in the final led to an unforgettable perfect game for the team.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally interpretable—'perfect' (flawless) + 'game' (contest) yields the general idea of a flawless game, so learners would grasp a positive, idealized meaning. However, the precise baseball sense (the technical condition that no opposing player reaches base for the entire game) is a domain-specific constraint that is not deducible from the words alone, making the expression only partially predictable for B1 learners.
Etymology
Perfect game comes from baseball and creates a clear image: a pitcher plays the whole game and does not let any batter reach a base, so the match is completely perfect. That's why it means 'no one reaches base' for the entire game.