Meaning
To unfairly change the rules, criteria, or target of a process after it has already begun, typically making it harder for the other party to succeed. Often used about negotiations, regulations, and workplace or political disputes; it also names an informal logical fallacy. Neutral-to-critical register; almost always implies unfairness or bad faith on the part of whoever changes the target. Regional use: British English origin; now General English.
Origin
A transparent metaphor from goalpost sports such as association football, rugby, hockey, and American football: a player is about to score when the goalposts are moved, making the target impossible to hit. The Phrase Finder traces the figurative use to Britain in the 1980s, with an early citation from September 1987 in Jamaica's The Gleaner quoting UK Chancellor Nigel Lawson: 'I see no reason to move the goalposts at all.' The expression spread through UK political and business discourse and crossed to the United States around 1990, when William Safire devoted his 'On Language' column in The New York Times Magazine to explaining it to American readers. Despite the occasional appeal to literal goalpost repositioning in sports history, the documented figurative idiom is a late-20th-century British coinage.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- move the goal line
- moving the goalposts
- shift the goalposts
Usage Examples
- Every time she met the sales target, her director moved the goalposts and raised the quota.
- Critics accused the regulator of shifting the goalposts midway through the licensing process.
- If the funding criteria keep moving, small charities will simply stop applying.