have the ball in one's court
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
To have the responsibility or opportunity to act or make a decision
có trách nhiệm hoặc cơ hội để hành động hoặc đưa ra quyết định
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Examples
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “have the ball in one's court” mean?
To have the responsibility or opportunity to act or make a decision Literally: a ball being in someone's court
Is “have the ball in one's court” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.