ballpark

ball +‎ park. Sense 2 related to ballpark figure.

ballpark (plural ballparks)

1. (US) A field, stadium or park where ball, especially baseball, is played.
2. (US, figuratively) The general vicinity; somewhere close; a broad approximation.

   Let’s get in the ballpark, then worry about the fine details.

   • 1990, “The Obvious Child””, in The Rhythm of the Saints, performed by Paul Simon, Warner Bros.:

     Some people say a lie is just a lie / But I say the cross is in the ballpark / Why deny the obvious, child?

   • 1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Jules (Samuel L. Jackson):

     But touching his wife's feet and sticking your tongue in the holiest of holies ain't the same fucking ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fucking sport.

ballpark (not comparable)

1. Approximate; close; on the right order of magnitude.
   • 1986, Darrell J. Steffensmeier, The Fence: In the Shadow of Two Worlds‎, →ISBN, page 104:

     These are ballpark prices: you could give or take a little either way.

• ballpark figure, ballpark estimate

ballpark (third-person singular simple present ballparks, present participle ballparking, simple past and past participle ballparked)

1. (transitive) To make a rough estimate of.

   If you don’t have the exact expense total, just ballpark it.

   • 2016, JoAnneh Nagler, How to be an artist without losing your mind, your shirt, or your creative compass, →ISBN, page 47:

     Ballpark what you need in each category and average those amounts by 12 months.

   • 8 August 2018, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky in AV Club, Jason Statham fighting a giant shark should be a lot more fun than The Meg

     science has deduced the following: that megalodon was the biggest and baddest of all sharks and, less cinematically, that it had a lower intestine not unlike that of some modern shark species. Scientists estimate its length at around 40 to 50 feet, Alten’s novel bumps it up to 65 feet, and the movie ballparks it at “75 to 90 feet.”