Etymology From ball + park. Sense 2 related to ballpark figure.
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.
Some people say a lie is just a lie / But I say the cross is in the ballpark / Why deny the obvious, child?1990, “The Obvious Child””, in The Rhythm of the Saints, performed by Paul Simon, Warner Bros.:
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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.1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Jules (Samuel L. Jackson):
Etymology From ball + park. Sense 2 related to ballpark figure.
1
Approximate; close; on the right order of magnitude.
These are ballpark prices: you could give or take a little either way.1986, Darrell J. Steffensmeier, The Fence: In the Shadow of Two Worlds, →ISBN, page 104:
If you don’t have the exact expense total, just ballpark it.
Ballpark what you need in each category and average those amounts by 12 months.2016, JoAnneh Nagler, How to be an artist without losing your mind, your shirt, or your creative compass, →ISBN, page 47:
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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.”