Meaning
A fair basis for competition - rules and conditions that give no participant an artificial advantage. The phrase is the standard demand of anyone who thinks the rules, taxes, or regulations favour a rival, and dictionaries gloss it with golf's handicap system, which exists precisely to level the field between stronger and weaker players. Standard in trade, tax, and regulatory argument; 'level the playing field' is the verbal form campaigners prefer. Regional use: General English.
Origin
A metaphor straight from sport, where it is meant literally: a sloping pitch would advantage whichever team happened to be kicking or running downhill, which is why football and rugby teams swap ends at half-time. Dictionary definitions treat fairness as the core - Farlex glosses the phrase with the golf handicap, which exists to create a level playing field between players of different skill - and the idiom has become the fixed expression for fair competition in business, trade, and politics. A 1998 leader in The Times was already noting that the Brussels-centred concept of the level playing field had proved a wonderfully convenient alibi for protectionist lobbies, and usage has only grown since; Wikipedia documents the phrase's role in market regulation and its limits, since identical formal rules can still favour incumbents able to absorb compliance costs. No authoritative first attestation is freely available, so the dating is reported conservatively.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a level playing field for all
- an uneven playing field
- level the playing field
Usage Examples
- The association's answer to every complaint about transmission costs was that the tariff schedule created a level playing field for all bidders.
- You cannot level the playing field by capping the champions and expecting the rest to train harder.
- Small publishers argued that the new platform fees tilted an already uneven playing field decisively against them.