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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
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.
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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.
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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%.
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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.
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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.
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Q.ai - Investing Reimagined, Forbes, 15 June 2021
Better, best Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, a car listing and data site, said the latest F-150 numbers move the goalposts.
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Phoebe Wall Howard, Detroit Free Press, 29 Sep. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'move/shift the goalposts.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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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 14 Jun. 2024.
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