Essential Sports Idioms and Achievement Vocabulary
Posted on Oct 15, 2025 in Physical Education
Vocabulary for Sports, Achievement & Idioms
Common Idioms and Expressions
- To be on the ball: To be quick to understand and react to things.
- To be in someone’s corner: To be on someone’s side; to support someone.
- To jump the gun: To start doing something too soon, before the proper time.
- To hit below the belt: To say something that is unfair, too personal, and often irrelevant.
- To get a head start: To gain an advantage at the beginning of something.
- To break records: To perform better than anyone or anything else has before.
- To tell someone apart: To recognize the difference between two people or things that are very similar.
- To lead someone away: To guide someone in a direction away from a place or person.
- To hold someone back: To prevent or restrict the progress or development of someone.
- To keep track: To stay informed about what is happening with someone or something.
- To be back on track: To be progressing in a way that is likely to result in success.
- To have a one-track mind: To have a mind limited to only one line of thought or action.
- To cover your tracks: To conceal evidence of one’s activities.
- Can’t help: Used for saying that someone cannot stop themselves from doing something.
- To let someone down: To fail to support or help someone as they had hoped.
- To catch up with: To succeed in reaching a person who is ahead of you.
- To sit something out: To not take part in a particular event or activity.
- To try out for: To attempt to become a member of a team or get a part in a performance.
- To go in for something: To enter a competition or take an exam; to try.
General Vocabulary and Verbs
- Accomplishment: Something that has been achieved successfully, often with effort.
- To follow something up: To take further action to ensure that earlier actions have been successful or effective.
- Stunning: Extremely impressive or attractive; fantastic or brilliant.
- Easygoing: Relaxed and tolerant in attitude; friendly.
- To glide: To move smoothly and easily.
- To spare: Additional to what is required for ordinary use.
- To flee: To run away from a place or situation of danger.
- War-torn: Racked or devastated by war.
- Alike: To be similar.
- Extended family: A family that extends beyond the nuclear family to include grandparents and other relatives.
- Barrier: An obstacle that prevents movement or access.
- Gift: A thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present.
- To succeed: To achieve a desired aim or result.
- To excel: To be exceptionally good at or proficient in an activity or subject.
- To club (verb): To go to nightclubs.
- To devote: To give all or most of one’s time or resources to a person or activity.
- To chase: To pursue in order to catch or catch up with someone or something.
- To rejoice: To feel or show great joy or delight.
- Background: The scenery or ground behind something.
- To move: To go in a specified direction or manner; to change position.
- Recognition: The identification of someone or something from previous encounters or knowledge.
- To enhance: To intensify, increase, or further improve the quality, value, or extent of something.
Sports-Specific Terminology
- Track record: The past achievements or performance of a person, organization, or product.
- Teammate: A fellow member of a team.
- Stamina: The ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort.
- Draw: A game or contest that ends with an even score; a tie.
- Self-esteem: Confidence in one’s own worth or abilities; self-respect.
- Defeat: To win a victory over someone in a battle or contest; to beat.
- Willpower: The control exerted to do something or restrain impulses.
- Referee: An official who watches a game to ensure rules are followed and arbitrates on the play.
- Sportsmanship: Fair and generous behavior or treatment of others, especially in a sporting contest.
- To beat: To defeat someone in a game or competition.
- Injuries: An instance of being injured; physical harm or damage.
- Concussion: A temporary injury to the brain caused by a blow to the head, resulting in confusion or unconsciousness.
Expressions from Sports
- To be a good sport: A person who is not rude or angry about losing.
- To take a time out: To stop an activity for a short period to rest or do something else.
- To put up a fight: To resist an opponent or attack with determination.
- To be a bad loser: A person who behaves badly or angrily when they lose.
- To be in the lead: To be in a position that is ahead of others.
