wrong-foot

wrong-foot (third-person singular simple present wrong-foots, present participle wrong-footing, simple past and past participle wrong-footed)

(sports) To cause a competitor to move or put weight on the wrong foot, as by making an unexpected move.
- 2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎:
  Johnson hesitated with his back to goal and was dispossessed by Mulumbu, who instantly played Odemwingie through on goal. The Nigerian kept his composure to wrong-foot Reina.
1. (transitive, tennis) To play the ball in an unexpected direction, forcing (the opponent) to change direction suddenly.
(transitive, by extension) To catch (someone) off balance, off guard; to surprise.
- 2023 October 5, Philip Oltermann, “Jon Fosse’s Nobel prize announces his overdue arrival on the global stage”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:
  The Swedish academy had defied bookies’ predictions and wrongfooted critics too many times in the past, and if there was one consensus in the run-up, it was that the prize would not go to Europe, where six of the last ten winners had come from.
- 2025 February 5, “The Guardian view on Trump’s foreign policy: an alarming new order takes shape”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:
  He is cast as a master of brinkmanship who uses shock and chaos to wrongfoot opponents before settling, in the end, for more sober outcomes.
(transitive, by extension) To place (someone) at a tactical disadvantage.

English