Word.ws English Dictionary

throw someone a curveball

throw someone a curveball is the alternative form of throw someone a curve.

Meaning of throw someone a curve

Verb

throw someone a curve (third-person singular simple present throws someone a curve, present participle throwing someone a curve, simple past threw someone a curve, past participle thrown someone a curve)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: To pitch a curve ball.
  2. (figuratively) To surprise; to introduce something unexpected or requiring a quick reaction or correction.
    • He really threw me a curve when he asked me a personal question at work.

Forms of throw someone a curveball

third-person singular presentthrows someone a curveball
present participlethrowing someone a curveball
pastthrew someone a curveball
past participlethrown someone a curveball

Questions about throw someone a curveball

What is throw someone a curveball the alternative form of?
Throw someone a curveball is the alternative form of throw someone a curve.

Words near throw someone a curveball in the dictionary

  1. throw signs
  2. throw smoke
  3. throw some shapes
  4. throw someone a bone
  5. throw someone a curve
  6. throw someone a curveball
  7. throw someone a rope
  8. throw someone out of bed
  9. throw something in someone's face
  10. throw something in someone's teeth
  11. throw spaghetti against the wall

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throw someone a curveball (page history and authors); throw someone a curve (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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Cite this entry: “throw someone a curveball.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/throw_someone_a_curveball. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.