to take your eye off the ball
7
6.5
- idiom
- Informal
:
perder el enfoque
- Now, the secret to this game is, no matter what happens, never ever take your eye off the ball.
You can't take your eye off the ball.
- You can't take your eye off the ball.
- Meaning, it's easy to take your eye off the ball if you don't know what the ball is.
- We're a Champions League, so you the story, especially with so many young immature players, you kind of take your eye off the ball.
Examples
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We needed the government to prop up the economy, but only because regulators took their eye off the ball.
Blog text (23) -
I know I took my eye off the ball, but I want to make things right.
-
Oh, and one more thing: Never take your eye off the ball!
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- I just took my eye off the ball, Mom.
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You take your eye off the ball, this is what happens.
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Now the secret to this game is, no matter what happens, never, never take your eye off the ball.
Fiction book (1994) -
Don't take your eye off the ball.
Blog text (3) -
I can't afford for him to take his eye off the ball.
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You take your eye off the ball one minute in this economy and you're screwed.
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During the presentation, it's crucial that you never take your eye off the ball if you want to succeed.
Synonyms
66
4.1
To stop looking at someone or something
19
4.4
To stop listening or paying attention to what is happening
14
3.8
Change what you pay attention to
Antonyms
How Focused
125
2.2
- Informal
7
6.5
- Informal
4
7.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
take + your + eye + off + the + ball
The phrase literally describes removing one's gaze from the ball, so a learner who knows 'take', 'eye', 'off' and 'ball' can infer stopping watching or paying attention to the important thing. Although sports-derived, the metaphorical shift to 'lose focus' is directly motivated by the constituents and follows familiar composition patterns, making the meaning predictable to a B1 learner given minimal context.
Etymology
The saying take your eye off the ball comes from sports where players must keep their eye on the ball; if they look away they can easily miss it. So it now means 'to lose focus' or 'stop paying attention' at an important moment.