take the high road
Americanidiom
Etymology
Origin of take the high road
First recorded in 1945–50
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.
Evans asked her if there was ever a moment in which she didn’t want to take the high road.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 26, 2025
“Jerry’s decided to take the high road and to be a positive force and a voice of reason,” Kinney says.
From Washington Post • Apr. 8, 2023
“You ask tough and pointed questions but do so with a high degree of professionalism. I tell our players to take the high road and yesterday, I did not do the same thing.”
From Seattle Times • Oct. 26, 2022
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, however, chose to take the high road as Hurricane Ian battered the Sunshine State.
From Washington Times • Sep. 28, 2022
Leah could always do that—she’d take the high road to please Father, or her teachers, or God, or maybe just to prove she could do it.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
