ball game also ball·game (bôl?g?m?)n.1. a. Any of various games, such as baseball, played with a ball.b. A game with religious and political significance in some pre-Columbian societies of Mesoamerica, southwestern North America, and the Caribbean, played with a rubber ball in a walled court.2. Slang a. A competition: “But in the winner-take-all world of politics, the contest for the undecided 2 or 3 percent can be the whole ballgame” (Brad Edmondson).b. A particular condition, situation, or set of circumstances.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.ball gamen1. any game played with a ball2. (Baseball) US and Canadian a game of baseball3. a situation; state of affairs (esp in the phrase a whole new ball game)Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014ball? game` n. 1. any game played with a ball. 2. a situation and all its attendant circumstances. [1840?50, Amer.] Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.