drop the ball
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
‘ Well, see, in the mid and late ' 70s I think the music industry dropped the ball, and I think that's why there was rarely a good band in the ' 80s.
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 “drop the ball” mean?
Disappoint.
Is “drop the ball” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.