Word.ws English Dictionary

punches above one's weight

punches above one's weight is the third-person singular simple present indicative of punch above one's weight.

Meaning of punch above one's weight

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To (attempt to) achieve or perform at a higher level than would be expected based on one's preparation, attributes, rank, or past accomplishments.
    • Ireland's current commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, is such a high-profile and outspoken figure who punches above his weight in Brussels in the important role of internal market commissioner.2008 December 11, David Charter, “Ireland takes a gamble on new Lisbon vote”, in The Times, London, retrieved 23 Dec 2009
    Synonyms:
    overachieve

Questions about punches above one's weight

What is punches above one's weight the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Punches above one's weight is the third-person singular simple present indicative of punch above one's weight.

Words near punches above one's weight in the dictionary

  1. puncheons
  2. puncher
  3. punchers
  4. punches
  5. punches above
  6. punches above one's weight
  7. punches below one's weight
  8. punches down
  9. punches in
  10. punches out
  11. punches someone's lights out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: punches above one's weight (page history and authors); punch above 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:

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