Word.ws English Dictionary

on the ropes

on the ropes prepositional phrase: leaning against the ropes of the boxing ring, as when exhausted and nearing defeat or collapse.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Leaning against the ropes of the boxing ring, as when exhausted and nearing defeat or collapse.
    • The champ had his opponent on the ropes at the end of the third round and knocked him out in the fourth.
  2. (broadly, figuratively) Showing signs of imminent failure or collapse.
    • After a good start in the stock market, this company seems to be on the ropes.
    • So Ukraine is on the ropes. Using that boxing metaphor, one immediately thinks of the new world heavyweight champion, the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, who was seemingly down and out under the ferocious assault of the giant Tyson Fury, but then came back to win on points at the end of a brutal 12...2024 May 24, Timothy Garton Ash, “Ukraine can still recover with bolder western support – but right now it’s on the ropes”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 Dec 2024
  3. (Multicultural-London-English, broadly) Being threatened or pressured by a rival gang member.

Forms of on the ropes

alternative formup against the ropes

Questions about on the ropes

What does on the ropes mean?
On the ropes means leaning against the ropes of the boxing ring, as when exhausted and nearing defeat or collapse.
What part of speech is on the ropes?
On the ropes is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on the ropes in the dictionary

  1. on the rise
  2. on the rivet
  3. on the road
  4. on the rob
  5. on the rocks
  6. on the ropes
  7. on the run
  8. on the safe side
  9. on the same page
  10. on the same wavelength
  11. on the sauce

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the ropes (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-on the ropes.ogg.

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