Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

pick one's battles

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.94 in modern English

Syllables: pick- one's -bat-tles
IPA

25

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

4

Syllables

12

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To involve oneself in disputes only if one is likely to win.

verb

To take a stand for a cause only if it is truly important enough to be worth the costs.

Example Sentences

"“[…]Jimmy Iovine, who runs Interscope, my record company, said, ‘Pick your battles carefully — don’t put your life at risk,’ but at the end of the day, I don’t see how you can shut up and just enjoy success when other people who don’t have the fame or the luxury to rent security guards are suffering.[…]”"

Inflected Forms

picks one's battles (present, singular) picking one's battles (participle, present) picked one's battles (participle, past) picked one's battles (past)

Phrases

hill to die on never fight a land war in Asia

Frequently Paired Words

hill to die on never fight a land war in Asia

Synonyms

choose one's battles

Questions

What does pick one's battles mean?: To involve oneself in disputes only if one is likely to win.

How to pronounce pick one's battles

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