Learn Idioms about Sports to Improve your English
Geez, I couldn’t continue working out enthusiastically in the gym yesterday as the household chores made me very tired. I “threw in the towel” and didn’t “meet my match.” Hold on! Not have a clue what I’m talking about? All right! Just keep reading this article to come across idioms about sports in English. Now you may be wondering why we need to learn it? Of course, native English speakers use idioms about sports and many other types of idioms around the clock. For this reason, it’s imperative for you to learn sports idioms, family idioms, color idioms, weather idioms, American idiomatic expressions, idioms about happiness and many more to use them in everyday conversation.
Remember not everything people talk about should be taken word for word. Likewise, when you use idioms, you come to know that they have a certain group of words giving entirely a different meaning from the actual elucidation of individual words.
Have you ever asked yourself how to criticize or praise someone’s activities? Here is a collection of thrilling idioms about sports to help you being active in general.
The List of Idioms about Sports with Meanings and Examples
Let’s discover some useful idioms about sports.
1. Hit it out of the park
Meaning: to bring about extremely well
Example: She is absolutely sure that she hit that test out of the park.
2. A horse in this race
Meaning:
Example: I’m fine with either Sarah or Emma as the head girl in the school. I don’t have a horse in this race.
3. Keep your eye on the ball
Meaning: an informal way of telling someone to pay attention to the situation
Example: Our competitor made a very major improvement to their product as we didn’t keep our eye on the ball.
4. Sink or swim
Meaning: used to refer to a situation in which someone either succeeds or fails completely.
Example: When I started my new job, I was given no help. I was left to sink or swim.
5. A sticky wicket
Meaning: a tricky or difficult situation
Example: New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first on a sticky wicket.
6. Get the ball rolling
Meaning: to do something to start an activity
Example: William got the ball rolling by presenting his idea first.
7. Play hardball
Meaning: to act harshly in order to get what you want
Example: He didn’t want to give my money back. So, I decided to play hardball.
8. Pack a punch
Meaning: to be very zestful and strong
Example: Tom walks softly but he packs a punch.
9. Curve ball
Meaning: an awkward situation that is difficult to deal with
Example: Mother nature threw us a curve ball last summer with the record-breaking rise of temperature.
10. Heavy hitter
Meaning: an exceptionally successful and dominant person
Example: The support of a heavy hitter soon made him successful in the music industry.
11. Jump through hoops
Meaning: to do a very difficult task so that to achieve something
Example: I had to jump through hoops to get to my bus.
12. Hit the target
Meaning: to achieve successfully
Example: She hit the target with extreme accuracy.
13. Take the gloves off
Meaning: to begin the fight or competing fiercely to achieve something
Example: Liam and James took their gloves off and started arguing.
14. Throw in the towel
Meaning: to quit or abandon
Example: I’m going to throw in the towel since I lost two games.
15. The ball is in your court
Meaning: It’s someone else’s turn to make a move
Example: Emma has done more than enough to save her marriage. The ball is in his husband’s court now.
16. Hit below the belt
Meaning: to be mean or unfair; hurting someone in an inappropriate way
Example: Recently, I had an argument with a colleague and he insulted me. That was certainly a hit below the belt.
17. Winning streak
Meaning: a consecutive series of victories
Example: He hasn’t forgiven me for my winning streak back in January.
18. A long shot
Meaning: a risky bet that has a low probability of success
Example: I always bet on long shots at the racetrack.