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Glite Dictionary
goalpost

goalpost

5 2.0
One of the two upright posts with a crossbar that make a goal in sports like football
  • noun
  • /ˈɡoʊlˌpoʊst/
: poste
  • During the match, the player kicked the ball and it hit the goalpost before going out of bounds.
  • move the goalposts

You, you have to be very mindful of not letting them continuously move the goalpost, so to speak.

Examples

  • Children used empty boxes to make makeshift goalposts while playing soccer in the park.

  • Finish under the Cathedral goalposts.

    Catch Me... If You Can (1989)

  • It's green and it's got a goalpost at each end.

    Goal! (2005)

  • You see the big goalpost there?

    We Are Marshall (2006)

  • Listen, you guys go on ahead to the goalpost.

    The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974)

  • Moving the goalposts in the middle of the game makes success less likely.

    Academic text (2008)

  • London just keeps moving the goalposts back.

    This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

  • Look, you can't move the goalpost.

    Father Figures (2017)

  • The trouble, critics say, is that Congress and the Justice Department keep pushing back the goalposts.

    Academic text (2003)

  • We put down our jackets as goalposts, and the teams divide automatically.

    Fiction book (1990)

Surface Forms

goalpost singular
goalposts plural

Morphology

goalpost = goal + post (transparent) = goal + post

The word 'goalpost' is a clear compound of 'goal' and 'post', and its meaning is directly derived from the combination of these two words.

Etymology

The word goalpost comes from the simple parts goal and post. A goal is the 'target' you try to reach and a post is a 'pole' or 'stick' used to mark a place, so a goalpost is the pole that marks the edge of the goal in sports.