Word.ws English Dictionary

move the goalposts

Syllables: move the goal·postsUK/ˈmuːv ðə ˈɡəʊlpəʊsts/US/ˈmuːv ðə ˈɡoʊlpoʊst/

move the goalposts verb: to alter the terms of an agreement or an agreed target, or the rules of a negotiation while it is ongoing, especially in an unfair way.

move the goalposts: to alter the terms of an agreement or an agreed target, or the rules of a negotiation while it is...
Image: Santeri Viinamäki, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

move the goalposts (third-person singular simple present moves the goalposts, present participle moving the goalposts, simple past and past participle moved the goalposts)

  1. (idiomatic) To alter the terms of an agreement or an agreed target, or the rules of a negotiation while it is ongoing, especially in an unfair way.
    • This is a Government that meets its economic targets and does not move the goalposts.
    • We were given a moving date, and an exchange date, but the buyers kept moving the goalposts and giving us a later date.
    Synonyms:
    change the goal posts, shift the goalposts

Synonyms of move the goalposts

Forms of move the goalposts

third-person singular presentmoves the goalposts
present participlemoving the goalposts
past participlemoved the goalposts
pastmoved the goalposts
alternative formmove the goal posts

Origin of move the goalposts

A metaphor of British origin derived from association football (soccer), from the idea that it is difficult for a player to kick the ball into the goal if it is moved.

Questions about move the goalposts

What does move the goalposts mean?
Move the goalposts means to alter the terms of an agreement or an agreed target, or the rules of a negotiation while it is ongoing, especially in an unfair way.
What part of speech is move the goalposts?
Move the goalposts is a verb.
How do you pronounce move the goalposts?
Move the goalposts is pronounced /ˈmuːv ðə ˈɡəʊlpəʊsts/ (UK).
What is the past tense of move the goalposts?
The past tense of move the goalposts is moved the goalposts.

Words near move the goalposts in the dictionary

  1. move south
  2. move the chains
  3. move the deckchairs on the Titanic
  4. move the dial
  5. move the goal posts
  6. move the goalposts
  7. move the needle
  8. move the problem
  9. move the yardsticks
  10. move through the gears
  11. move to

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: move the goalposts (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-move the goalposts.ogg.

Cite this entry: “move the goalposts.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/move_the_goalposts. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.