hitter

Everyday

1. A hitter is a person who hits, especially a batter in baseball or softball whose job is to hit the ball. tree →
2. (informal) A heavy hitter is a powerful or important person or organisation. tree →
3. In cricket and other sports, a hitter is someone who hits the ball hard. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday sport in the US and Canada, hitters are batters: a «good hitter» hits the ball often, a «power hitter» hits it far. In cricket, a «big hitter» scores lots of sixes. In maths problems about baseball, a hitter's batting average = hits ÷ times at bat. In news, «heavy hitters» are big important people.

Examples

• She is the best hitter on our softball team. tree →
• The hitter swung and sent the ball over the fence. tree →
• He is a big hitter who scores lots of sixes. tree →
• A power hitter can hit home runs. tree →
• The heavy hitters of tech came to the meeting. tree →
• The coach moved the left-handed hitter up the order. tree →

Note

Countable. In baseball, «batter» is the usual word for the person batting; hitter is used too. Batting average in maths: hits ÷ at-bats, written like .300 (3 hits in 10).