Meanings
- derogatoryhumorousironicmildlysometimesuncountableAny sport, especially one involving a ball; a sport that does not need to be specified or is not worth specifying.
I don't know much about most sportsball teams, but hockey players seem to be the hottest. Who's your favorite?
2018 October 20, anonymous author, “Hot hockey players”, in The Data Lounge, archived from the original on 03 Sep 20242 more examples
It may seem counterintuitive, but I hate watching sports in a sports bar. Sports bars are where other sportsball fans go, and generally speaking, I’m not really into sportsball fans, especially not a roomful of drunk and angry ones.
2016 November 23, Tricia Romano, “How To Have The Worst Thanksgiving Ever (On Purpose)”, in The Stranger, Seattle, page 18To use a sportsball analogy that might be a metaphor, judicial oversight of executive institutions is roughly the equivalent of policing acts of foul play that could result in a player being ejected from the sportsball game, such as attempted decapitation […]
2020, Douglas A. Van Belle, A Novel Approach to Politics: Introducing Political Science through Books, Movies, and Popular Culture
Origin
From sports + ball. Based on football, basketball, baseball, etc. Traditionally often claimed to originate from 4chan and its cultural sentiments (compare normalfag).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
sportsball. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sportsball
“sportsball.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sportsball. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sportsball,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sportsball.
Source: sportsball on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.