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Glite Dictionary
to climb down from one's high horse

to climb down from one's high horse

1 8.5
To stop acting like you are better than other people
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : bajar de su pedestal
  • I'm only saying this in the nicest way, as constructive criticism, because you would get better responses if you climbed down from your high horse and toned down your self-righteousness.

Examples

  • Climb down from your high horse, Robert.

    Robin Hood (1991)

  • After realizing how condescending he sounded, he decided to climb down from his high horse during the meeting.

  • You should climb down from your high horse and listen to other people's opinions instead of insisting you're always right.

  • If you climb down from your high horse, you'll see that everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

Synonyms

to get off one's high horse
vsto climb down from one's high horse
  • Informal
5 8.2

Stop acting as if you are better than others

is about becoming humble and realistic rather than only stopping superiority
to come down to earth
vsto climb down from one's high horse
1 4.8

Start to think and act in a realistic way after being excited

stresses becoming humble and less arrogant rather than merely becoming practical

Antonyms

to stay humble
1 3.6

Keep being modest and not become proud when you do well

How Humble

to eat humble pie
  • Informal
1 7.9
to climb down from one's high horse
  • Informal
1 8.5
to knock down a peg
  • Informal
3 7.6

Surface Forms

climb down from one's high horse infinitive
climbed down from one's high horse past
climbed down from one's high horse past participle
climbing down from one's high horse present participle
climbs down from one's high horse third person singular

Morphology

climb + down + from + one + high + horse

The literal constituents ('climb down' + 'high' + 'horse') give a plausible image of someone lowering themselves from a superior position, so a learner could partially infer 'be less arrogant'. However, the horse-as-symbol-of-superiority is a cultural/metaphorical mapping that is not fully predictable from the words alone and may be unfamiliar to many B1 learners, so prior exposure is usually needed for the full sense.

Etymology

Climb down from one's high horse comes from a simple picture: a person on a very tall horse looks down on others and acts proud, but if they climb down and leave the high horse they join people at the same level. So, it means 'to become less arrogant' and behave more humbly.