Word.ws English Dictionary

hit below one's weight

hit below one's weight is the alternative form of punch below one's weight.

Meaning of punch below one's weight

Verb

punch below one's weight (third-person singular simple present punches below one's weight, present participle punching below one's weight, simple past and past participle punched below one's weight)

  1. (idiomatic) To achieve or perform at a level lower than should be expected based on one's preparation, attributes, rank, or past accomplishments.
    • But the overall effect is flimsy and insubstantial, a gifted writer punching well below his weight.2001 September 29, “For men who should know better”, in The Telegraph, UK, archived from the original on 07 Jul 2013
    Synonyms:
    underachieve

Forms of hit below one's weight

third-person singular presenthits below one's weight
present participlehitting below one's weight
past participlehit below one's weight
pasthit below one's weight

Questions about hit below one's weight

What is hit below one's weight the alternative form of?
Hit below one's weight is the alternative form of punch below one's weight.

Words near hit below one's weight in the dictionary

  1. hit and runs
  2. hit away
  3. hit back
  4. hit batsman
  5. hit batsmen
  6. hit below one's weight
  7. hit below the belt
  8. hit bottom
  9. hit by pitch
  10. hit counter
  11. hit counters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hit below one's weight (page history and authors); punch below one's weight (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-hit below one's weight.ogg.

Cite this entry: “hit below one's weight.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hit_below_one%27s_weight. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.