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Glite Dictionary
to fall on one's sword

to fall on one's sword

4 8.4
To accept blame or quit a job to protect other people
  • idiom
  • Formal
translation icon : asumir la responsabilidad
  • Mr. Rajoy has to fall on his sword in the interests of EU unity and the future of Spain.

Examples

  • After the company's poor performance, the CEO decided to fall on his sword and resign.

  • Sometimes a leader will fall on his sword for the people.

    Blog text (9)

  • Pete is not the type to fall on his sword when it comes to such a big account.

    Blog text (14)

  • General Petraeus fell on his sword earlier this afternoon.

    Blog text (24)

  • Helen Stewart is refusing to fall on her sword, she wants to go to tribunal.

    Bad Girls: The Musical (2009)

  • Dr. Teten, bless his heart, is offering to fall on his sword over this.

    Blog text (4)

  • If he falls on his sword and says, "It's all my fault, I misled the court," he's in some legal trouble.

    Blog text (23)

  • Knowing he was responsible for the team's failure, he chose to fall on his sword rather than shift the blame.

  • The politician publicly declared he would fall on his sword if the investigation proved any misconduct.

Synonyms

to take responsibility
vsto fall on one's sword
193 3.3

To admit you caused a problem and accept the blame

focuses on taking blame for a specific failure, often resigning
to take the fall
vsto fall on one's sword
  • Informal
55 7.5

Accept blame or punishment, often instead of someone else

usually means accepting blame for a failure and possibly resigning
to fall on a grenade
vsto fall on one's sword
8.2

Accept a big risk to protect other people

involves taking blame or stepping down after a failure rather than heroic sacrifice

Antonyms

buck-passing
1 7.1

Act of putting blame on others to avoid doing a job you should do

How Responsible

to fall on one's sword
  • Formal
4 8.4
to resign
  • Formal
533 3.7
to own up
  • Informal
38 4.4

Surface Forms

fall on one's sword infinitive
falling on one's sword present participle
falls on one's sword third person singular
fell on one's sword past
fallen on one's sword past participle

Morphology

fall + on + one's + sword

The sense 'to take responsibility or accept blame' cannot be derived from the literal meanings of 'fall' + 'on' + 'one's' + 'sword', which would more likely evoke a physical act of falling onto a weapon. This is a historical/metaphorical idiom whose meaning is language-specific and requires prior exposure, so a B1 learner knowing the parts would not reliably infer it.

Etymology

The idiom fall on one's sword comes from old stories of soldiers or leaders who would literally fall on their sword and die to show they accepted blame. So today it means 'to take responsibility for a failure', often by accepting blame or resigning.