bat
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A club used for hitting a ball in different games.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
batIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbæt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A club used for hitting a ball in various games
A turn at hitting the ball with a bat in a game.
The club used in playing cricket
“A cricket bat has a narrow handle and a broad flat end for hitting.”
A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.
A player rated according to skill in batting.
A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.
verb
Have a turn at bat
“Jones bats first, followed by Martinez.”
Use a bat
transitive
To hit with a bat or (figuratively) as if with a bat.
intransitive
To strike or swipe as though with a bat.
intransitiveusually with 'around' or 'about'
To flit quickly from place to place.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A club used for hitting a ball in various games
Used this way, bat is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Club / turnnoun
“A cricket bat has a narrow handle and a broad flat end for hitting.”
Turnverb
“Jones bats first, followed by Martinez.”
More ways to use bat
- “A cricket bat has a narrow handle and a broad flat end for hitting.”noun
- “He was at bat when it happened.”noun
- “Jones bats first, followed by Martinez.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.