move/shift the goalposts

idiom

: to change the rules or requirements in a way that makes success more difficult

Examples of move/shift the goalposts in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Scammers continue to move the goalposts with different ruses and techniques, and AI is figuring more prominently. Russ Wiles, USA TODAY, 30 Oct. 2024 Since late June, certain things about that area of your life may have felt up in the air, or at least not as rigidly set in stone, giving you permission to play within those flexible conditions and move the goalposts. Steph Koyfman, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Oct. 2024 Regulators continue to shift the goalposts in a pendulum-like motion between aggressive regulation and open applications. Matvii Diadkov, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024 That’s not to say the right hasn’t tried to move the goalposts more in its direction to place Swift and Kelce on the left. Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2024 Biden wanted to shift the goalposts from protecting Afghanistan’s civilians to training Afghan forces to do the job and lead the fight against al-Qaeda. Philip Elliott, Time, 14 Apr. 2021 Some economists have suggested the Fed could move the goalposts on inflation, revising its 2% inflation target to the more attainable level of 3%. Matt Egan, CNN, 7 Sep. 2022 Covid-19 mouthpiece Michael Caputo was aggressively pursuing a herd immunity strategy, Floridians could watch DeSantis quietly try to move the goalposts. Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 10 Aug. 2021 And with prices leaping sky-high as demand recovers and supply lines falter, and up to 40% of workers contemplating quitting their jobs if they aren’t allowed to maintain some form of work-from-home arrangement, the Fed’s prerequisite conditions might have to move the goalposts. Q.ai - Investing Reimagined, Forbes, 15 June 2021

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Cite this Entry

“Move/shift the goalposts.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/move%2Fshift%20the%20goalposts. Accessed 15 Dec. 2024.

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