take sides

Idioms

Also, take someone's side. Support or favor one party in a dispute, as in Parents shouldn't take sides in their children's quarrels, or Thanks for taking my side concerning the agenda. [c. 1700] Also see take someone's part.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The letter doesn’t seem to take sides, emphasizing instead the need for cooperation that would allow “families, businesses, our employees, and communities across Minnesota to resume our work.”

From Barron's

The seizing of the 26 Racing on Demand machines and the money within the machines by 21 state Department of Justice employees and two Arcadia Police personnel on Saturday is forcing those in the horse racing orbit to take sides.

From Los Angeles Times

He preserves an ironic detachment, refusing to take sides between the colonial French forces and the Communists fighting to take control of the country.

From The Wall Street Journal

They know they cannot immediately take sides - even if they want to.

From BBC

The concept, he explained, was first framed by Arthur O. Lovejoy in 1915, as a “principle aimed at curtailing the readiness of academic administrations to take sides in disputes in which some of their faculty members were on the other side” and was “intended to protect academic freedom.”

From Salon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023