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Business English vocabulary · Office Idioms and Phrases

Drop the ball

Meaning in business english, with examples

idiomCommon term

In business english, drop the ball means: To make a mistake by forgetting or failing to do something that you were responsible for.

In Turkish: işi aksatmak, bir şeyi gözden kaçırmak, sorumluluğunu yerine getirememek

How it is used

Informal and often used to admit a mistake: 'Sorry, I dropped the ball on that.' Also used to blame: 'Someone dropped the ball with the shipping documents.' It comes from sports such as baseball and American football.

Example sentences

  1. I'm sorry, I dropped the ball on the invoice. I'll send it today.

  2. We lost the client because someone dropped the ball on the follow-up.

Common collocations

  • drop the ball on something
  • drop the ball with a client
  • really dropped the ball
  • don't drop the ball
  • deadlineThe latest date or time by which a piece of work must be finished, sent or delivered.
  • follow upTo contact someone again about something you discussed earlier, in order to check progress, ask for an answer or add information.
  • on my radarDescribing something you know about and are paying attention to, even if you are not working on it right now.
  • bandwidthIn office talk, the time, energy or capacity that a person or team has available to take on more work.

More terms: Office Idioms and Phrases

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