personal foul

noun

, Sports.

1. a foul called in certain games, as basketball or football, for illegal body contact or rough, unsportsmanlike play.

Word History and Origins

Origin of personal foul¹

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

This isn’t even a ton of contact from Donovan Mitchell on Dort, but because Mitchell is hooking Dort’s arm and technically stopping it from its usual movement, this should be an offensive personal foul on Mitchell.

From FiveThirtyEight

Once he tangled briefly with a Purple Five guard, and the referee called a personal foul on both players.

From Project Gutenberg