Meanings
present singular third person drops the ball · participle present dropping the ball · participle past dropped the ball · past dropped the ball
- idiomaticTo fail in one's responsibilities or duties, or to make a mistake, especially at a critical point or when the result is very negative.
The movie ought to sputter out here, but Crowe and Cruise don't drop the ball.
1996 Dec. 13, Peter Stack, "Tom and ‘Jerry’ Make a Great Team" (film review of Jerry Maguire), San Francisco Chronicle (retrieved 21 Sept 2013) - Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see drop, ball.
Synonyms: fall on one's face, fuck up, screw the pooch
Synonyms & antonyms
verbUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see drop, ball.
More synonyms by meaning
verbcommit a faux pas or a fault or make a serious mistake
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
An allusion to the rules of such games as baseball, American football or cricket wherein literally dropping the ball would be a mistake.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch een steek laten vallen
- een steek laten vallenfail in one’s responsibilities
Finnish tunaroida, mokata
- tunaroidafail in one’s responsibilities
- mokatafail in one’s responsibilities
- munatafail in one’s responsibilities
- kustafail in one’s responsibilities
Polish schrzaniać, schrzanić
- schrzaniaćfail in one’s responsibilities
- schrzanićfail in one’s responsibilities
- partaczyćfail in one’s responsibilities
- spartaczyćfail in one’s responsibilities
- spieprzaćfail in one’s responsibilities
- spieprzyćfail in one’s responsibilities
- zawalaćfail in one’s responsibilities
- zawalićfail in one’s responsibilities
Portuguese pisar na bola
- pisar na bolafail in one’s responsibilities
Spanish equivocarse, meter la pata
- equivocarsefail in one’s responsibilities
- meter la patafail in one’s responsibilities
Cite this entry
drop the ball. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drop%20the%20ball
“drop the ball.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drop%20the%20ball. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “drop the ball,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drop%20the%20ball.
Source: drop the ball on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.