Word.ws English Dictionary

pinball

/ˈpɪnˌbɔːl/

pinball noun: a game, played on a device with a sloping base (a pinball machine), in which the player operates a spring-loaded plunger to shoot a ball, between obstacles, and attempts to hit targets and score points.

pinball: a game, played on a device with a sloping base (a pinball machine), in which the player operates a...
Image: Sam Howzit, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

pinball (countable and uncountable, plural pinballs)

  1. A game, played on a device with a sloping base (a pinball machine), in which the player operates a spring-loaded plunger to shoot a ball, between obstacles, and attempts to hit targets and score points.
  2. The ball used in pinball.
  3. (figuratively) A situation where a ball is frantically kicked between many players.
    • The opener came from a Jarvis ball which struck Aleksandar Kolarov en route to a lively round of pinball between City players before it was poked in by Milijas.2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC

Verb

pinball (third-person singular simple present pinballs, present participle pinballing, simple past and past participle pinballed)

  1. (intransitive) To dart about rapidly.
    • Like most immigrants, Gibbs came South for economic reasons and soon found himself pinballing around a world circumscribed by the hot growth markets...1996, Peter Applebome, Dixie Rising: How the South is Shaping American Values, Politics and Culture
    • They went off the road and pinballed alongside a stretch of guardrail as the Bambis scattered.2004, David Baldacci, Hour Game

pinball meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

pinball in Hindi

पिनबॉल, पिनबाल, पिनबॉल करना

pinball in Marathi

पिनबॉल, पिनबाॅल, पिनबॉलबॉल

pinball in Urdu

پنبال

pinball in Bengali

পিনবল, পিন্বল, পিনবল করতে
More languagesFewer languages
pinball in Telugu
పిన్బాల్, పిన్బాల్ చేయడానికి
pinball in Malayalam
പിൻബോൾ, പിൻബോളിലേക്ക്, പിൻബോൾ ചെയ്യാൻ
pinball in Kannada
ಪಿನ್ಬಾಲ್, ಪಿನ್ಬಾಲ್ ಮಾಡಲು
pinball in Punjabi
ਪਿੰਨਬਾਲ, ਪਿਨਬਾਲ, ਪਿੰਨਬ੉ਲ
pinball in Gujarati
પિનબોલ, પિનબૉલ, પિનબોલે
pinball in Odia
ପିନ୍ବଲ୍, ପିନବଲ୍, ପିନ୍ବଲ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
pinball in Nepali
पिनबल, पिनबोल, पिनबाल

Examples of pinball in a sentence

  • You’ve been on that pinball machine long enough—now let your brother have a go.
  • We have designed the new pinball table to be untiltable, to prevent players from cheating.
  • This video game simulates a pinball machine.

All 18 example sentences with pinball

Synonyms of pinball

Forms of pinball

Noun
pluralpinballs
Verb
third-person singular presentpinballs
present participlepinballing
past participlepinballed
pastpinballed

Plural of pinball: pinballs

Origin of pinball

From pin + ball.

Words formed from pinball

Phrases with pinball

Questions about pinball

What does pinball mean?
Pinball means a game, played on a device with a sloping base (a pinball machine), in which the player operates a spring-loaded plunger to shoot a ball, between obstacles, and attempts to hit targets and score points.
What is pinball in Hindi?
Pinball in Hindi is पिनबॉल, पिनबाल, पिनबॉल करना. See Pinball meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is pinball?
Pinball can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce pinball?
Pinball is pronounced /ˈpɪnˌbɔːl/.
What is the plural of pinball?
The plural of pinball is pinballs.

Words near pinball in the dictionary

  1. Pinay
  2. Pinays
  3. pinazepam
  4. pinback
  5. pinbacks
  6. pinball
  7. pinball machine
  8. pinball machines
  9. pinballed
  10. pinballer
  11. pinballers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pinball (page history and authors); pinball (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pinball (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pinball (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pinball (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pinball (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pinball (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pinball (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pinball (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pinball (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pinball (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pinball (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pinball.wav.

Cite this entry: “pinball.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pinball. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.