wrong-foot
sport to play a shot in such a way as to cause (one's opponent) to be off balance
to take by surprise so as to place in an embarrassing or disadvantageous situation
Words Nearby wrong-foot
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
How to use wrong-foot in a sentence
Planning to hitchhike across the country, Sal gets off on the wrong foot.
‘On the Road’: Differences Between Jack Kerouac’s Novel and This Year’s Film | Anna Klassen | December 21, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTMy intricate relationship with Zionism started on the wrong foot.
He said Obama got off on the wrong foot by systematically intimidating industries, from travel to insurance to oil and gas.
Grant Wahl on how Tom Cruise and Will Smith got Becks started on the wrong foot.
Her betrothed tried to mount with the wrong foot according to his invariable custom.
The Longest Journey | E. M. Forster
You've hit the idea pretty well, boss—only you've got the wrong boot on the wrong foot.
Connie Morgan in the Lumber Camps | James B. HendryxBut he had done it again: he had put the shoe on the wrong foot—he, Smith, stood up for judgment, not the school.
Earthsmith | Milton Lesser"You turned the corner with the wrong foot," said his father.
Gold-Seeking on the Dalton Trail | Arthur R. ThompsonI took it bashfully, feeling I had begun my American career on the wrong foot.
Essays of Travel | Robert Louis Stevenson
Other Idioms and Phrases with wrong-foot
Deceive by moving differently from what one expects, as in He won quite a few points by wrong-footing his opponent. This expression comes from tennis, where it means to hit the ball in the direction the opponent is moving away from. It was transferred to other applications in the late 1900s, as in Susan Larson's review of a concert: “Music wrong-footing and deceiving the ear” (Boston Globe, November 1, 1994).
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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