spitball

1 of 2

noun

spit·ball ˈspit-ˌbȯl

: paper chewed and rolled into a ball to be thrown or shot as a missile

: a baseball pitch delivered after the ball has been moistened with saliva or sweat

spitball

2 of 2

verb

spitballed; spitballing

transitive + intransitive

informal

: to propose (ideas, suggestions, etc.) for consideration in an informal, preliminary way

Writers spitballed story ideas; editors dreamed up coverage ….—

Nick Summers

He has his finger on every facet of the concert presentation, using rehearsals to tweak the visuals and spitball new ideas.—

Marshall Fine

Linklater, Coltrane, and Hawke had started spitballing dialogue a year earlier, though they'd begun anticipating the scene years before that.—

Nathan Heller

… it's probably a little late for Vance Joseph and his coaching staff to be spitballing on what kind of team they want the Broncos to be.—

Mark Kiszla

Examples of spitball in a Sentence

Noun The kids were shooting spitballs at each other.

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Noun

Meanwhile, Schiff has been hitting big league pitching in Washington for years, including nasty spitballs hurled by Donald Trump, who loves to throw beanballs at opponents’ heads. —

George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2024 His signature pitch was a spitball, the preferred offering of the era. —

Tommy Birch, USA TODAY, 10 Aug. 2022

Verb

Shortly after arriving home, a knock at her door reveals Aubrey Plaza’s agent Rio Vidal is there to spitball about the case. —

Katie Campione, Deadline, 18 Sep. 2024 People don’t know, and everybody spitballs their ideas. —

Christy Piña, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019 See all Example Sentences for spitball