# What does ‘move the goalposts’ mean?

To “move the goalposts” means to unfairly change the criteria mid-process. A late 20th-century idiom from football; not in Brewer's 1898.

## What it means

- A late 20th-century idiom from football; not in Brewer's 1898.

## Action steps

1. Common complaint in politics and business.
2. Example: Every time we meet the target, they move the goalposts.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Internet Archive scan](https://archive.org/details/brewers-dictionary-of-phrase-and-fable)

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