take one for the team

English

Etymology

By analogy with a player making a sacrifice for the benefit of the sports team.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US, Northern California)

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• Audio (AU)

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Verb

take one for the team (third-person singular simple present takes one for the team, present participle taking one for the team, simple past took one for the team, past participle taken one for the team)

1. (idiomatic, informal) To accept some chore, hardship, or punishment for the sake of one's friends or colleagues.

Translations

doing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues

• Danish: tage en for holdet
• Finnish: uhrautua
• Polish: poświęcać się dla drużyny impf, poświęcać się dla drużyny impf, poświęcić się dla drużyny pf
• Russian: броса́ться на амбразу́ру (ru) impf (brosátʹsja na ambrazúru), бро́ситься на амбразу́ру (ru) pf (brósitʹsja na ambrazúru)

See also

• there's no I in team
• bell the cat
• fall on a grenade
• step into the breach
• take the fall