THROW A CURVE Definition & Meaning

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throw a curve

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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.

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Example Sentences

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Surely the Fed won't throw a curve ball later on Wednesday, will it?

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Nature can throw a curve ball; nothing is guaranteed.

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鈥淚s he going to go fastball to get ahead or is he going to throw a curve ball to steal a strike? In an even count is he going fastball to trick us or is he going to go with his strength, the changeup? Ultimately, it just comes down to execution.鈥�

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Hardcore Rick Owens fans may own numerous black pairs of his Dunks, but the new season鈥檚 Geo Baskets in bubble gum pink throw a curve ball and flip the dark Owens aesthetic.

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And that means the Colts could throw a curve ball at conventional wisdom and take a different route to reinforce a team with two playoff appearances in the past three seasons.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 漏 Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage庐 Idioms Dictionary copyright 漏 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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