stick one's neck out

verb

To take a risk, putting oneself in a vulnerable position.

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Meanings

verbstick one's neck out (third-person singular simple present sticks one's neck out, present participle sticking one's neck out, simple past and past participle stuck one's neck out)

present singular third person sticks one's neck out · participle present sticking one's neck out · participle past stuck one's neck out · past stuck one's neck out

  1. idiomaticTo take a risk, putting oneself in a vulnerable position.

    Bogey is the cynical cafe owner who lives by his own moral code and sticks his neck out for “no one.”

    2014, David Bleiler, TLA Video & DVD Guide 2004: The Discerning Film Lover's Guide, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    Uncle Tom's study was a place I seldom entered during my visits to Brinkley Court, because when I did go there he always grabbed me and started to talk about old silver, whereas if he caught me in the open he often touched on other topics, and the way I looked at it was that there was no sense in sticking one's neck out. It was more than a year since I had been inside this sanctum […]

    1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

    And unfortunately, while Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps (one of the few half-competent ministers in the Cabinet) is clever enough to understand this, he does not really care enough to stick his neck out, given that he is very likely to be heading off for a bigger job in the inevitable Cabinet reshuffle once the virus is under control.

    2021 January 27, Christian Wolmar, “Investment, not cuts, is how to generate a big 'return to rail'”, in RAIL, number 923, page 47

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
put one's neck out

Translations

Finnish vaarantaa itsensä
  • vaarantaa itsensäputting oneself in a vulnerable position
French se mouiller, mouiller sa chemise
  • se mouillerputting oneself in a vulnerable position
  • mouiller sa chemiseputting oneself in a vulnerable position
Icelandic gefa höggstað á sér
  • gefa höggstað á sérputting oneself in a vulnerable position
Italian rischiare l'osso del collo
  • rischiare l'osso del colloputting oneself in a vulnerable position
Polish nadstawiać karku, nadstawić karku
  • nadstawiać karkuputting oneself in a vulnerable position
  • nadstawić karkuputting oneself in a vulnerable position
Spanish mojarse
  • mojarseputting oneself in a vulnerable position
Cite this entry
APA

stick one's neck out. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stick%20one's%20neck%20out

MLA

“stick one's neck out.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stick%20one's%20neck%20out. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stick one's neck out,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stick%20one's%20neck%20out.

Source: stick one's neck out on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.