See pick one's battles in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "picks one's battles",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "picking one's battles",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "picked one's battles",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "picked one's battles",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "*"
},
"expansion": "pick one's battles (third-person singular simple present picks one's battles, present participle picking one's battles, simple past and past participle picked one's battles)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "47 53",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
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"Entry maintenance"
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{
"_dis": "45 55",
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}
],
"glosses": [
"To involve oneself in disputes only if one is likely to win."
],
"id": "en-pick_one's_battles-en-verb-5KxyaWHX",
"links": [
[
"involve",
"involve"
],
[
"dispute",
"dispute"
],
[
"win",
"win"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To involve oneself in disputes only if one is likely to win."
],
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "64 36",
"word": "never fight a land war in Asia"
},
{
"_dis1": "64 36",
"word": "hill to die on"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "64 36",
"word": "choose one's battles"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "81 19",
"code": "zh",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "to only involve oneself in disputes that one is likely to win",
"word": "選邊站 /选边站"
},
{
"_dis1": "81 19",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to only involve oneself in disputes that one is likely to win",
"word": "valita taistelunsa"
},
{
"_dis1": "81 19",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to only involve oneself in disputes that one is likely to win",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "uczestniczyć tylko w pewnych bitwach"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "47 53",
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"_dis": "42 58",
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{
"_dis": "38 62",
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{
"_dis": "40 60",
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},
{
"_dis": "39 61",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Polish translations",
"parents": [],
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}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2010 May 25, Lynn Hirschberg, quoting M.I.A., “M.I.A.’s Agitprop Pop”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
"text": "“[…]Jimmy Iovine, who runs Interscope, my record company, said, ‘Pick your battles carefully — don’t put your life at risk,’ but at the end of the day, I don’t see how you can shut up and just enjoy success when other people who don’t have the fame or the luxury to rent security guards are suffering.[…]”",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To take a stand for a cause only if it is truly important enough to be worth the costs."
],
"id": "en-pick_one's_battles-en-verb-bFXpan4c",
"links": [
[
"take a stand",
"take a stand"
],
[
"cause",
"cause"
],
[
"important",
"important"
],
[
"worth",
"worth"
],
[
"cost",
"cost"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To take a stand for a cause only if it is truly important enough to be worth the costs."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "12 88",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to only take a stand for a cause that is truly important to one",
"word": "valita taistelunsa"
},
{
"_dis1": "12 88",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to only take a stand for a cause that is truly important to one",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "walczyć tylko w ważnych dla siebie sprawach"
}
]
}
],
"word": "pick one's battles"
}
{
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"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English verbs",
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"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Chinese translations",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with Polish translations"
],
"forms": [
{
"form": "picks one's battles",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "picking one's battles",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "picked one's battles",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "picked one's battles",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "*"
},
"expansion": "pick one's battles (third-person singular simple present picks one's battles, present participle picking one's battles, simple past and past participle picked one's battles)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "never fight a land war in Asia"
},
{
"word": "hill to die on"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English idioms"
],
"glosses": [
"To involve oneself in disputes only if one is likely to win."
],
"links": [
[
"involve",
"involve"
],
[
"dispute",
"dispute"
],
[
"win",
"win"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To involve oneself in disputes only if one is likely to win."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2010 May 25, Lynn Hirschberg, quoting M.I.A., “M.I.A.’s Agitprop Pop”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
"text": "“[…]Jimmy Iovine, who runs Interscope, my record company, said, ‘Pick your battles carefully — don’t put your life at risk,’ but at the end of the day, I don’t see how you can shut up and just enjoy success when other people who don’t have the fame or the luxury to rent security guards are suffering.[…]”",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To take a stand for a cause only if it is truly important enough to be worth the costs."
],
"links": [
[
"take a stand",
"take a stand"
],
[
"cause",
"cause"
],
[
"important",
"important"
],
[
"worth",
"worth"
],
[
"cost",
"cost"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To take a stand for a cause only if it is truly important enough to be worth the costs."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "choose one's battles"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "zh",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "to only involve oneself in disputes that one is likely to win",
"word": "選邊站 /选边站"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to only involve oneself in disputes that one is likely to win",
"word": "valita taistelunsa"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to only involve oneself in disputes that one is likely to win",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "uczestniczyć tylko w pewnych bitwach"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to only take a stand for a cause that is truly important to one",
"word": "valita taistelunsa"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to only take a stand for a cause that is truly important to one",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "walczyć tylko w ważnych dla siebie sprawach"
}
],
"word": "pick one's battles"
}
Download raw JSONL data for pick one's battles meaning in English (3.1kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (b941637 and 4230888). 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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