17/12/2025
There are many kinds of “balls”: football, baseball, basketball, and volleyball. Do you know what a spitball is?
Literally, it’s a sheet of paper crumpled into a ball—like when you write something down, decide it’s rubbish, crumple the sheet, and throw it away.
📍It can also be used as a swearword, so be careful!
Metaphorically, though, the verb "to spitball" means to brainstorm ideas without filtering.
What can you say during a brainstorming session?
👉 “Let’s just toss some ideas around and see what sticks.”
👉 “We’re just spitballing ideas for the new marketing campaign—nothing is set in stone yet.”
👉 “Don’t worry if your suggestion sounds crazy; we’re spitballing here to see what works.”
👉 “During the meeting, the team spent an hour spitballing ways to improve customer engagement.”
👉 “I’m just spitballing, but what if we launched the product earlier than planned?”
👉 “Let’s spitball some names for the new app before we finalize anything.”
Casual / Informal synonyms:
👉 Brainstorm
👉 Throw ideas around
👉 Toss out ideas
👉 Blue-sky thinking (often used for creative, unconstrained ideas)
More Neutral / Professional synonyms:
👉 Generate ideas
👉 Conceptualize
👉 Explore possibilities
Idiomatic alternatives:
👉 Think out loud
👉 Kick around ideas
👉 Bounce ideas off each other
What’s your favourite way to say “spitball”?
Which word or phrase comes to your mind first?
