to keep one's eye on the ball
15
5.6
- idiom
- Informal
:
mantenerse concentrado
- During the meeting, let's all keep our eye on the ball and focus on the project goals.
- gotta keep your eye on the ball
- just keep your eye on the ball
- need to keep your eye on the ball
Examples
-
You have to keep your eye on the ball because otherwise you're going to get blindsided.
Blog text (19) -
Let's try to keep our eyes on the ball, okay?
Fiction book (1995) -
And remember, keep your eyes on the ball.
-
It's time to keep your eyes on the ball.
-
Just keep your eye on the ball.
-
Listen, keep your eye on the ball, okay?
-
Are you keeping your eye on the ball?
-
So keep your eyes on the ball and focus on play.
-
And one of the most important rules is this: Keep your eyes on the ball.
Blog text (4) -
If we can just keep our eye on the ball!
Blog text (5)
Synonyms
∞
2.0
Give most attention and effort to one person or task
∞
1.6
To focus on someone or something and notice carefully
561
3.4
To give all your attention to one thing
279
3.1
Give your full attention to one activity or subject
134
3.2
Watch carefully for someone or something
97
3.8
Watch carefully for danger or a chance
55
3.1
To fix your eyes or attention on one thing
16
4.6
Watch carefully for something important or dangerous
14
3.5
To focus all your attention and effort on achieving something
13
6.3
To notice things quickly and act to fix them
9
3.2
To focus on a goal without getting distracted
4
7.4
To stay focused and calm in a difficult situation
1
7.7
To be alert and ready to act
1
8.6
Give full attention to your own work and skills, not other people's tasks
To continue to think about something as an important goal
Antonyms
How Focused
9
3.2
- Informal
15
5.6
561
3.4
∞
1.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
keep + one + eye + on + the + ball
The meaning 'to remain focused on the main goal' is directly derivable from combining 'keep' (retain/continue) with the literal image 'eye on the ball' (watching the central object), so the compositional mapping to attention is clear. This sports-based, concrete metaphor is common and follows an easily understood physical-to-mental extension, so an average B1 learner who knows the constituent words would be able to infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Keep one's eye on the ball comes from ball games where players must watch the ball with their eye so they can hit or catch it. So, the phrase now means 'to stay focused on the main goal' and not let small things distract you.