Word.ws English Dictionary

leaving the ball in someone's court

leaving the ball in someone's court is the present participle and gerund of leave the ball in someone's court.

Meaning of leave the ball in someone's court

Verb

leave the ball in someone's court (third-person singular simple present leaves the ball in someone's court, present participle leaving the ball in someone's court, simple past and past participle left the ball in someone's court)

  1. (idiomatic) To hand over the responsibility or choice to someone to make a decision or take action about something.
    • His statement also left the ball in the Security Council’s court, for it is scheduled to discuss the report in August. Saudi Arabia has powerful backers on the Council, including the United States.2016 June 22, Somini Sengupta, “Saudis Question U.N. Leader Over Report on Rights Violators”, in The New York Times

Questions about leaving the ball in someone's court

What is leaving the ball in someone's court the present participle and gerund of?
Leaving the ball in someone's court is the present participle and gerund of leave the ball in someone's court.

Words near leaving the ball in someone's court in the dictionary

  1. leaving someone on seen
  2. leaving someone out in the cold
  3. leaving someone to their fate
  4. leaving someone to their own devices
  5. leaving something to be desired
  6. leaving the ball in someone's court
  7. leaving the chat
  8. leaving the door open
  9. leaving the nest
  10. leaving things alone
  11. leaving to chance

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leaving the ball in someone's court (page history and authors); leave the ball in someone's court (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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