Word.ws English Dictionary

moving the goalposts

moving the goalposts is the present participle and gerund of move the goalposts.

Meaning of move the goalposts

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.
    Synonyms:
    change the goal posts, shift the goalposts

Questions about moving the goalposts

What is moving the goalposts the present participle and gerund of?
Moving the goalposts is the present participle and gerund of move the goalposts.

Words near moving the goalposts in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: moving the goalposts (page history and authors); 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:

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