Idiom
turn the other cheek
Meaning
To accept punishment or injury without retaliating.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He chose to turn the other cheek instead of fighting back.”
“Even though his coworker was rude to him, he decided to turn the other cheek and stay professional.”
“Rather than engaging in a bitter cycle of retaliation, she chose to turn the other cheek, demonstrating a level of grace that surprised her critics.”
Examples
simple
“He chose to turn the other cheek instead of fighting back.”
contextual
“Even though his coworker was rude to him, he decided to turn the other cheek and stay professional.”
complex
“Rather than engaging in a bitter cycle of retaliation, she chose to turn the other cheek, demonstrating a level of grace that surprised her critics.”
Origin
The phrase comes from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:39, where Jesus counters the older principle of measured retaliation, an eye for an eye. Instead he says: do not resist an evildoer; if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. It is a deliberate reversal of the instinct to hit back, offering the aggressor a second target rather than a matching blow.
The teaching is about non-retaliation: absorbing an insult or injury rather than escalating it. Whether read as pacifism or as a pointed refusal to play by the logic of revenge, the gesture of presenting the other cheek is the memorable core.
In English, to turn the other cheek means to respond to hostility or provocation without retaliating, to take the hit and decline to return it. It is invoked both as an ideal of restraint and, sometimes, as a challenge to it.
Key words
Related idioms
Stories
The Life & Teachings of Jesus · See all Biblical origin
The Gospels and the Sermon on the Mount.
the salt of the earth — Good, honest, dependable people who lack pretension.
a wolf in sheep's clothing — A dangerous or hostile person who hides behind a harmless, friendly appearance.
cast the first stone — To act self-righteously in accusing another person, believing oneself to be blameless.
go the extra mile — To make an extra effort; to do a particularly good job.
the blind leading the blind — A situation in which someone incompetent is guiding others who are equally incompetent.
the eye of a needle — A standard for something so difficult it is all but impossible to pass or achieve.
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