- an unintentional goal scored to the offense when the ball struck by a defensive player goes into the defensive team’s net: The goalkeeper's own goal was a stunningly bad moment.Abbreviation: o.g.
- an unintentional harm or disadvantage to oneself or one’s associates, brought about by one’s own action, often when the intention was to harm or disadvantage someone else: The prosecution’s relentless badgering proved to be an own goal, and a much-relieved defendant went free.
- a goal scored by a player accidentally playing the ball into his own team's net
- any action that results in disadvantage to the person who took it or to a party, group, etc with which that person is associated
