| English Dictionary |
BALL UP
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does ball up mean?
• BALL UP (verb)
The verb BALL UP has 1 sense:
1. make a mess of, destroy or ruin
Familiarity information: BALL UP used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Make a mess of, destroy or ruin
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Synonyms:
flub; spoil; screw up; muff; muck up; mishandle; mess up; louse up; fumble; fuck up; foul up; fluff; ball up; bungle; bumble; botch up; botch; bollocks up; bollocks; bollix up; bollix; bodge; bobble; blow
Context example:
the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement
Hypernyms (to "ball up" is one way to...):
fail; go wrong; miscarry (be unsuccessful)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Derivation:
ballup (something badly botched or muddled)
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