Advertisement
Advertisement
View synonyms for throw a curve
throw a curve
Discover More
Idioms and Phrases
Surprise or outwit someone, as in They threw me a curve when they said that our department would be combined with yours . This colloquial term comes from baseball, where a pitcher tries to fool the batter by using a curve ball , which is thrown with sufficient spin to make it veer from its expected path. The term was transferred to other kinds of surprise, not necessarily unpleasant, in the mid-1900s.Advertisement
Discover More
Related Words
Word of the Day
[in-vet-er-it ]
Meaning and examplesStart each day with the Word of the Day in your inbox!
By clicking "Sign Up", you are accepting Dictionary.com Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policies.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse