punch above one's weight

English

WOTD – 2 May 2017

Etymology

United States Air Force Staff Sgt. Gary Griffin (left) and United States Army Spc. Zacchaeus Hardrick at the 2011 Armed Forces Boxing Championship held at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, USA

An allusion to a boxer who punches more powerfully than other boxers in the same weight class.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʌntʃ əˈbʌv wʌnz weɪt/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Verb

punch above one's weight (third-person singular simple present punches above one's weight, present participle punching above one's weight, simple past and past participle punched above one's weight)

1. (idiomatic) To (attempt to) achieve or perform at a higher level than would be expected based on one's preparation, attributes, rank, or past accomplishments.
   • 2011 January 29, Chris Bevan, “Torquay 0 – 1 Crawley Town”, in BBC Sport‎^[1], archived from the original on 14 January 2016:

     Having spent more than £500,000 on players last summer, Crawley can hardly be classed as minnows but they have still punched way above their weight and this kind of performance means no-one will relish pulling them out of the hat in Sunday's draw.

Alternative forms

• hit above one's weight

Synonyms

• overachieve

Antonyms

• punch below one's weight
• underachieve

Translations

achieve or perform at a higher level than would be expected based on one's preparation, attributes, rank, or past accomplishments

• Czech: překročit svůj stín
• Finnish: ylittää kykynsä (overachieve), yrittää liikoja (try to)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: s’attaquer à plus fort que soi, s’en prendre à plus fort que soi
• Russian: пры́гнуть вы́ше головы́ (prýgnutʹ výše golový)

See also

• out of one's league
• bite off more than one can chew