Meanings
present singular third person takes one for the team · participle present taking one for the team · past took one for the team · participle past taken one for the team
- idiomaticinformalTo accept some chore, hardship, or punishment for the sake of one's friends or colleagues.
[Casey Newton:] Yes, Arijeta, you really did take one for the team on this one, I have to say.
2026 March 6, Kevin Roose, Casey Newton, “OpenAI’s Fog of War + Betting on Iran + Hard Fork Review of Slop”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
Origin
By analogy with a player making a sacrifice for the benefit of the sports team.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Danish tage en for holdet
- tage en for holdetdoing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
Finnish uhrautua
- uhrautuadoing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
French se sacrifier, se dévouer
- se sacrifierdoing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
- se dévouerdoing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
Polish poświęcać się dla drużyny, poświęcić się dla drużyny
- poświęcać się dla drużynydoing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
- poświęcić się dla drużynydoing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
Russian броса́ться на амбразу́ру, бро́ситься на амбразу́ру
- броса́ться на амбразу́ру (brosátʹsja na ambrazúru)doing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
- бро́ситься на амбразу́ру (brósitʹsja na ambrazúru)doing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
- вы́звать ого́нь на себя́ (výzvatʹ ogónʹ na sebjá)doing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
- отдува́ться (otduvátʹsja)doing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
Spanish hacerse una, vos mismo sos
- hacerse unadoing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
- vos mismo sosdoing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
- ponerse la diezdoing an unwelcome task instead of one's friends or colleagues
Cite this entry
take one for the team. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20one%20for%20the%20team
“take one for the team.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20one%20for%20the%20team. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “take one for the team,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20one%20for%20the%20team.
Source: take one for the team on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.