Word.ws English Dictionary

drop the ball

drop the ball verb: to fail in one's responsibilities or duties, or to make a mistake, especially at a critical point or when the result is very negative.

Verb

drop the ball (third-person singular simple present drops the ball, present participle dropping the ball, simple past and past participle dropped the ball)

  1. (idiomatic) To 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)
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see drop, ball.

drop the ball meaning in Bengali

drop the ball in Bengali

নিজের দায়িত্ব, কর্তব্যে ব্যর্থ হওয়া, অথবা কোনো ভুল করা

Synonyms of drop the ball

Forms of drop the ball

third-person singular presentdrops the ball
present participledropping the ball
past participledropped the ball
pastdropped the ball

Origin of drop the ball

An allusion to the rules of such games as baseball, American football or cricket wherein literally dropping the ball would be a mistake.

Questions about drop the ball

What does drop the ball mean?
Drop the ball means to fail in one's responsibilities or duties, or to make a mistake, especially at a critical point or when the result is very negative.
What is drop the ball in Bengali?
Drop the ball in Bengali is নিজের দায়িত্ব, কর্তব্যে ব্যর্থ হওয়া, অথবা কোনো ভুল করা. See Drop the ball meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is drop the ball?
Drop the ball is a verb.
What is the past tense of drop the ball?
The past tense of drop the ball is dropped the ball.

Words near drop the ball in the dictionary

  1. drop someone in it
  2. drop tank
  3. drop tanks
  4. drop target
  5. drop targets
  6. drop the ball
  7. drop the bomb
  8. drop the f-bomb
  9. drop the gloves
  10. drop the H-bomb
  11. drop the hammer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drop the ball (page history and authors); drop the ball (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-drop the ball.ogg.

Cite this entry: “drop the ball.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/drop_the_ball. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.