Apedia

Goalposts Move Don’t Means Change Aims Limits Rules

Metaphor Move the goalposts
Question Meaning What do you mean?
Meaning

To move the goalposts means to change the aims, the limits or the rules of a situation or activity, with the effect that other people are confused and don’t know what is expected of them.

Question Explanation Why does it mean this?
Explanation

If you moved the actual goalposts in a game such as football, it would be confusing, and it would be difficult to score any goals.

Question Example Example
Example

“I thought she just wanted 10 correct answers before we could move on to the next level, but now she says she wants 15! If she keeps moving the goalposts, I don’t know when I’ll finish.”

Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.

Next card: Grandmother suck eggs teach corner teaching telling necessarily

Previous card: Throat frog middle water means can’t speak dry

Up to card list: What did you say? What do you mean?