Standard Lemma guide

pinball

noun · verb · 5 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.

  • /ˈpɪnˌbɔːl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P IH1 N B AO2 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The ball used in pinball.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A situation where a ball is frantically kicked between many players.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, figuratively, uncountable

Topics: ball-games, games, hobbies, lifestyle, soccer, sports

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To dart about rapidly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a game played on a sloping board; the object is to propel marbles against pins or into pockets

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pinball game

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: game

Narrower terms: pachinko

History

Etymology

From pin + ball.

Across languages

Translations

40 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: флипер (fliper) — game
  • Catalan: joc del milió — game
  • Catalan: billar electrònic — game
  • Chinese Mandarin: 彈球 /弹球 (dànqiú) — game
  • Chinese Mandarin: 釘球戲 /钉球戏 (dīngqiúxì) — game
  • Chinese Mandarin: 彈珠台 (dànzhūtái) — game
  • Dutch: flipperkast — game
  • Dutch: flipperspel — game
  • Esperanto: flipero — game
  • Finnish: flipperi — game
  • French: flipper — game
  • German: Flipper — game
  • German: Flipperspiel — game
  • Greek: φλίπερ (flíper) — game
  • Greek: φλιπεράκι (fliperáki) — game
  • Hungarian: flipper — game
  • Irish: pionnliathróid — game
  • Italian: flipper — game
  • Italian: biliardino elettrico — game
  • Japanese: ピンボール (pinbōru) — game
  • Korean: 핀볼 (pinbol) — game
  • Macedonian: флипер (fliper) — game
  • Macedonian: флиперска игра (fliperska igra) — game
  • Polish: pinball — game
  • Polish: flipper — game
  • Portuguese: pinball — game
  • Russian: пинбо́л (pinból) — game
  • Swedish: flipperspel — game
  • Turkish: tilt oyunu — game
  • Ukrainian: пінбол (pinbol) — game
  • Welsh: pinbel — game
  • Chinese Cantonese: 波子 (bo1 zi2) — ball
  • Finnish: flipperipallo — ball
  • Finnish: pallo — ball
  • French: bille — ball
  • Hungarian: flippergolyó — ball
  • Hungarian: golyó — ball
  • Polish: piłeczka — ball
  • Finnish: singahdella — to dart about rapidly
  • Polish: biegać tam i z powrotem — to dart about rapidly