"hill to die on" meaning in English

See hill to die on in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-hill to die on.ogg Forms: hills to die on [plural]
Etymology: An allusion to the instances where a military doggedly pursues a goal or defends a position no matter the cost or (lack of) benefit, typically involving a hill (high ground). Examples include Battle of Hamburger Hill, Battle of Thermopylae, and Last Stand Hill. Head templates: {{en-noun|hills to die on}} hill to die on (plural hills to die on)
  1. (idiomatic) An issue to pursue with wholehearted conviction and/or single-minded focus, with little or no regard to the cost and no intent of equivocation or compromise. Wikipedia link: Battle of Hamburger Hill, Battle of Little Big Horn, Battle of Thermopylae Tags: idiomatic Related terms: pick your battles
    Sense id: en-hill_to_die_on-en-noun-OrnegrYq Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "An allusion to the instances where a military doggedly pursues a goal or defends a position no matter the cost or (lack of) benefit, typically involving a hill (high ground). Examples include Battle of Hamburger Hill, Battle of Thermopylae, and Last Stand Hill.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "hills to die on",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "hills to die on"
      },
      "expansion": "hill to die on (plural hills to die on)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006, Cate Dermody, The Firebird Deception, Silhouette Books, published 2006, →ISBN, page 113:",
          "text": "\"I'm sorry, Alisha. I can't overrule the European director's decision to move you out of her arena. This isn't a hill to die on. […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Kevin Leman, Under the Sheets: The Secrets to Hot Sex in Your Marriage, Revell, published 2009, →ISBN, page 179:",
          "text": "Is correct laundry folding really a hill to die on?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Deborah Smith Pegues, Ricky Temple, Why Smart People Make Dumb Choices, Harvest House Publishers, published 2010, →ISBN, page 49:",
          "text": "Though I simply apologized and told him his ranting wasn't necessary. He made a bad decision. I made a good one. As livid as I was, I realized this situation was not a hill to die on.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An issue to pursue with wholehearted conviction and/or single-minded focus, with little or no regard to the cost and no intent of equivocation or compromise."
      ],
      "id": "en-hill_to_die_on-en-noun-OrnegrYq",
      "links": [
        [
          "issue",
          "issue"
        ],
        [
          "pursue",
          "pursue"
        ],
        [
          "wholehearted",
          "wholehearted"
        ],
        [
          "conviction",
          "conviction"
        ],
        [
          "single-minded",
          "single-minded"
        ],
        [
          "focus",
          "focus"
        ],
        [
          "equivocation",
          "equivocation"
        ],
        [
          "compromise",
          "compromise"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An issue to pursue with wholehearted conviction and/or single-minded focus, with little or no regard to the cost and no intent of equivocation or compromise."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "pick your battles"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Battle of Hamburger Hill",
        "Battle of Little Big Horn",
        "Battle of Thermopylae"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-hill to die on.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/32/En-au-hill_to_die_on.ogg/En-au-hill_to_die_on.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/En-au-hill_to_die_on.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hill to die on"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "An allusion to the instances where a military doggedly pursues a goal or defends a position no matter the cost or (lack of) benefit, typically involving a hill (high ground). Examples include Battle of Hamburger Hill, Battle of Thermopylae, and Last Stand Hill.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "hills to die on",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "hills to die on"
      },
      "expansion": "hill to die on (plural hills to die on)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "pick your battles"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006, Cate Dermody, The Firebird Deception, Silhouette Books, published 2006, →ISBN, page 113:",
          "text": "\"I'm sorry, Alisha. I can't overrule the European director's decision to move you out of her arena. This isn't a hill to die on. […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Kevin Leman, Under the Sheets: The Secrets to Hot Sex in Your Marriage, Revell, published 2009, →ISBN, page 179:",
          "text": "Is correct laundry folding really a hill to die on?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Deborah Smith Pegues, Ricky Temple, Why Smart People Make Dumb Choices, Harvest House Publishers, published 2010, →ISBN, page 49:",
          "text": "Though I simply apologized and told him his ranting wasn't necessary. He made a bad decision. I made a good one. As livid as I was, I realized this situation was not a hill to die on.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An issue to pursue with wholehearted conviction and/or single-minded focus, with little or no regard to the cost and no intent of equivocation or compromise."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "issue",
          "issue"
        ],
        [
          "pursue",
          "pursue"
        ],
        [
          "wholehearted",
          "wholehearted"
        ],
        [
          "conviction",
          "conviction"
        ],
        [
          "single-minded",
          "single-minded"
        ],
        [
          "focus",
          "focus"
        ],
        [
          "equivocation",
          "equivocation"
        ],
        [
          "compromise",
          "compromise"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An issue to pursue with wholehearted conviction and/or single-minded focus, with little or no regard to the cost and no intent of equivocation or compromise."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Battle of Hamburger Hill",
        "Battle of Little Big Horn",
        "Battle of Thermopylae"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-hill to die on.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/32/En-au-hill_to_die_on.ogg/En-au-hill_to_die_on.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/En-au-hill_to_die_on.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hill to die on"
}

Download raw JSONL data for hill to die on meaning in English (2.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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