lose ground

Idioms

Fail to hold one's position; fall behind, deteriorate. For example, The Democrats were losing ground in this district, or We thought Grandma was getting better, but now she's quickly losing ground. This expression originally referred to territory lost by a retreating army. [Second half of 1700s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The move also leaves Honda with very few EVs to sell around the world, causing it to lose ground to Chinese and South Korean competitors.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

But Alibaba could lose ground in other areas.

From Barron's • Oct. 9, 2025

Bompastor's side remain on course to win a quadruple and will not want to lose ground in any competition.

From BBC • Mar. 15, 2025

The result means Norris, who also scored the point for fastest lap, reduced Verstappen’s championship lead by three points on a day he would have started expecting to lose ground.

From BBC • Sep. 15, 2024

But all students in a bad school, black and white, do lose ground to students in good schools.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023