meet your match

Meanings

1. 1phraseidiom

   to meet someone who is as strong, skilled, or determined as you, so you cannot easily win.

   Grammar: Used as a verb phrase; the possessive pronoun changes to match the subject: meet my/your/his/her/our/their match.

   Patterns

   • meet your match
   • meet one's match
   • meet your match in someone

   The champion finally met his match in the young challenger.

   She always wins arguments, but she met her match when she debated her father.

   If you play chess with him, you may meet your match.

2. 2phraseidiomfigurative

   to experience something that is as difficult or powerful as you are and that you cannot deal with easily.

   Grammar: Often used with a thing as the subject or object: the problem met its match, or we met our match in the storm.

   Patterns

   • meet your match in something
   • something meets its match

   The old tree met its match in the hurricane.

   Her patience met its match when the children refused to sleep.

   This stain remover has met its match with red wine.

Common combinations

finally meet your match

After years of winning, he finally met his match.

meet your match in someone

She met her match in the new manager.

meet your match on the field

The team met their match on the field yesterday.

meet your match at chess

I usually win, but I met my match at chess last night.

Synonyms and how they differ

be outclassed

This means someone is clearly better than you, while 'meet your match' suggests equality or a close contest.

be challenged

This is more general and does not necessarily mean the other person is equal or stronger.

Opposites

Commonly confused: meet your match or meet the match?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “meet your match”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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