take the fall

Idioms  

1. Incur blame or censure for another's misdeeds, as in She's taken the fall for you in terms of any political damage, or A senior official took the fall for the failed intelligence operation. This expression originated in the 1920s as underworld slang. It began to be extended to less criminal kinds of blame in the second half of the 1900s. Also see take a fall, def. 2.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

take the fall

Kendrick also attacked Callaway’s decision, writing on X: “Interesting that @CallawayGolf asks us to make an ad then approves it then asks us to take the fall then drops us in a coordinated media blitz.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

Matthew Mott was dispensable enough to take the fall for the previous failures but Brendon McCullum, given the keys to all England sides to mould as he pleases until 2027, is not.

From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2025

Several sergeants later sued the city, saying they were being made to take the fall for the department’s misdeeds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2024

Some doctors feel that instead of offering backup, their hospitals have siloed all responsibility to a few providers who would take the fall if an abortion case were challenged.

From Salon ● Feb. 27, 2024

I wondered if he’d ratted out his friends or if he was the kind of guy who’d take the fall rather than snitching.

From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson

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Related Words

• blame
• condemn
• confine
• convict
• imprison
• incarcerate
• jail
• penalize
• punish

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