Word.ws English Dictionary

drops the ball

drops the ball is the third-person singular simple present indicative of drop the ball.

Meaning of drop the ball

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.

Questions about drops the ball

What is drops the ball the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Drops the ball is the third-person singular simple present indicative of drop the ball.

Words near drops the ball in the dictionary

  1. drops one's guard
  2. drops out
  3. drops round
  4. drops someone a line
  5. drops someone in it
  6. drops the ball
  7. drops the bomb
  8. drops the f-bomb
  9. drops the gloves
  10. drops the H-bomb
  11. drops the hammer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drops the ball (page history and authors); drop the ball (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.

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