move the goalposts

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

to change the criteria for success, the requirements for achieving an outcome, or the terms of an agreement after the fact, particularly in a way that prevents the other party from meeting a previously agreed standard; the metaphor draws on football, where shifting the physical goalposts mid-game would make scoring impossible regardless of skill; in political and diplomatic contexts it describes bad-faith negotiation tactics in which concessions are met not with agreement but with new demands, frustrating genuine efforts at compromise and eroding trust in the negotiating process