Phrase guide

kissing ball

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɪsɪŋ ˌbɔːl/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌkɪsɪŋ ˈbɔːl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈkɪsɪŋ ˌbɔl/
  • General-American: /ˌkɪsɪŋ ˈbɔl/
  • General-American, cot-caught-merger: /-ˌbɑl/
  • General-American: /-ˈbɑl/
  • rhymes with -ɔːl

1

noun

Meaning 1

A hanging ornament, often used as a Christmas decoration, made by arranging plant parts, especially sprigs of holly or mistletoe, and evergreen leaves, into a ball shape.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From kissing (noun) + ball (noun), from the custom of people kissing under the suspended ornament: see the 2001 quotation.

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: mistelipallo — hanging ornament made by arranging plant parts into a ball shape