below the belt
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Unfair.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Most of what's most interesting in life goes on below the belt.’
Belittle that, and you hit every patriotic American below the belt.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “below the belt” mean?
Unfair.
Is “below the belt” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.