Idiom
hill to die on
Meaning
An issue to pursue with a wholehearted conviction or a single-minded focus, with little or no regard to the cost and no intent of equivocation or compromise.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“This small argument is not a hill to die on.”
“Choosing the paint color for the kitchen is my hill to die on.”
“Is this tiny mistake really the hill to die on for you?”
“I disagree with the new policy, but it is not a hill to die on, so I will let it go.”
“She decided that fighting for a higher salary was her hill to die on because she had worked there for five years without a raise.”
“The manager told the team to pick their battles wisely, as a small font change on the website is rarely a hill to die on.”
“While he felt strongly about the project, he realized that challenging the director's minor preference was not a hill to die on.”
Examples
simple
“This small argument is not a hill to die on.”
“Choosing the paint color for the kitchen is my hill to die on.”
“Is this tiny mistake really the hill to die on for you?”
contextual
“I disagree with the new policy, but it is not a hill to die on, so I will let it go.”
“She decided that fighting for a higher salary was her hill to die on because she had worked there for five years without a raise.”
“The manager told the team to pick their battles wisely, as a small font change on the website is rarely a hill to die on.”
complex
“While he felt strongly about the project, he realized that challenging the director's minor preference was not a hill to die on.”
Origin
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.
Key words
Related idioms
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