"lift one's game" means: To improve one's performance through practice or additional effort.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
lift one's game
(Australia, idiomatic) To improve one's performance through practice or additional effort.
Definitions
(Australia, idiomatic) To improve one's performance through practice or additional effort.
"lift one's game" means: To improve one's performance through practice or additional effort.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
"lift one's game" means: To improve one's performance through practice or additional effort.. Register: neutral, standard English, usable in most everyday contexts. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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🇦🇺About Australian & NZ slang slang
Aussie and Kiwi vocabulary — bogan, daggy, brekkie, sheila, bach, jandals — the whole Antipodean lexicon, including outback dialect, surf and beach culture, and Sydney/Melbourne street slang.
See all Australian & NZ slang slang on Slangora.
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Other words near "lift one's game" (L)
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Semantically related
- lid-lifter63%
(sports, slang) The first game played.
- lift the lid62%
(intransitive) (chiefly, UK, informal, figuratively) To reveal or expose something, especially information.
- play up62%
(British, idiomatic) To misbehave.
- lid-lifter61%
Sports slang for the opening game of a season, tournament, or competition — the event that 'lifts the lid' and officially kicks things off. The metaphor suggests the excitement of opening something up: once the lid comes off, the whole season spills out. Used in American sports journalism and broadcasting, particularly for baseball and hockey season openers, where the first game of the year carries outsized emotional weight after months of offseason waiting.
- play up61%
(intransitive) To play (e.g. sport or music) more vigorously.