See throw someone a curve in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "From the curve ball in baseball, where a spin is employed to adjust the path of the ball unexpectedly.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "throws someone a curve",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "throwing someone a curve",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "threw someone a curve",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "thrown someone a curve",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "throw someone a curveball",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "<,,threw,thrown>"
},
"expansion": "throw someone a curve (third-person singular simple present throws someone a curve, present participle throwing someone a curve, simple past threw someone a curve, past participle thrown someone a curve)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "&lit not valid pagename",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Baseball",
"orig": "en:Baseball",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "82 18",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "67 33",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "78 22",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "83 17",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "69 31",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Polish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "79 21",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: To pitch a curve ball."
],
"id": "en-throw_someone_a_curve-en-verb-idTwZzgi",
"links": [
[
"baseball",
"baseball"
],
[
"pitch",
"pitch"
],
[
"curve ball",
"curve ball"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(baseball) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: To pitch a curve ball."
],
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"word": "throw for a loop"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"word": "bowl a googlie"
}
],
"topics": [
"ball-games",
"baseball",
"games",
"hobbies",
"lifestyle",
"sports"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "pitch a curve ball",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "podkręcać piłkę"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "pitch a curve ball",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "podkręcić piłkę"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
10,
26
]
],
"text": "He really threw me a curve when he asked me a personal question at work.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To surprise; to introduce something unexpected or requiring a quick reaction or correction."
],
"id": "en-throw_someone_a_curve-en-verb-mpsrbmpw",
"links": [
[
"surprise",
"surprise"
],
[
"introduce",
"introduce"
],
[
"unexpected",
"unexpected"
],
[
"quick",
"quick"
],
[
"reaction",
"reaction"
],
[
"correction",
"correction"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figuratively) To surprise; to introduce something unexpected or requiring a quick reaction or correction."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "2 98",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to surprise with something unexpected",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "dawać zagwozdkę"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 98",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to surprise with something unexpected",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "dać zagwozdkę"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 98",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to surprise with something unexpected",
"word": "pescar en curva (a alguien)"
}
]
}
],
"word": "throw someone a curve"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English verbs",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations"
],
"etymology_text": "From the curve ball in baseball, where a spin is employed to adjust the path of the ball unexpectedly.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "throws someone a curve",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "throwing someone a curve",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "threw someone a curve",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "thrown someone a curve",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "throw someone a curveball",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "<,,threw,thrown>"
},
"expansion": "throw someone a curve (third-person singular simple present throws someone a curve, present participle throwing someone a curve, simple past threw someone a curve, past participle thrown someone a curve)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "throw for a loop"
},
{
"word": "bowl a googlie"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"&lit not valid pagename",
"en:Baseball"
],
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: To pitch a curve ball."
],
"links": [
[
"baseball",
"baseball"
],
[
"pitch",
"pitch"
],
[
"curve ball",
"curve ball"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(baseball) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: To pitch a curve ball."
],
"topics": [
"ball-games",
"baseball",
"games",
"hobbies",
"lifestyle",
"sports"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
10,
26
]
],
"text": "He really threw me a curve when he asked me a personal question at work.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To surprise; to introduce something unexpected or requiring a quick reaction or correction."
],
"links": [
[
"surprise",
"surprise"
],
[
"introduce",
"introduce"
],
[
"unexpected",
"unexpected"
],
[
"quick",
"quick"
],
[
"reaction",
"reaction"
],
[
"correction",
"correction"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figuratively) To surprise; to introduce something unexpected or requiring a quick reaction or correction."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "pitch a curve ball",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "podkręcać piłkę"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "pitch a curve ball",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "podkręcić piłkę"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to surprise with something unexpected",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "dawać zagwozdkę"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to surprise with something unexpected",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "dać zagwozdkę"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to surprise with something unexpected",
"word": "pescar en curva (a alguien)"
}
],
"word": "throw someone a curve"
}
Download raw JSONL data for throw someone a curve meaning in English (3.0kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-11-27 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-11-20 using wiktextract (5887622 and c6a903f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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