stand up and be counted

English

Alternative forms

• stand and be counted

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

stand up and be counted (third-person singular simple present stands up and is counted, present participle standing up and being counted, simple past stood up and was counted, past participle stood up and been counted)

1. (idiomatic) To publicly make known one's views, contributions, or vote, especially in a contentious situation where fortitude is required.
   • 1960 October 24, “Foreign News: A New Look at Neutralism”, in Time, retrieved 5 November 2016:

     Only four years ago many a small nation felt required to stand up and be counted, either for or against the U.S.

   • 1981 Nov. 25, UPI, "‘Miami's for Me’ Slogan Aims at a Better Image," New York Times (retrieved 5 Nov 2016):

     "We're here because we're willing to stand up and be counted and we're willing to do something about the problems of this community."

   • 2016 January 12, Lucy Gorman, “Voices: Queer Christians like me deserve to pray without prejudice”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 5 November 2016:

     [A]s an LGBT community we need to stand up and be counted, and force people into action by holding our ground on the importance of inclusion in the church.

2. (idiomatic, often sports) To take significant individual action to help a group effort.
   • 2009 September 6, Jonah Freedman, “Best player U.S. has ever produced comes through when it counts”, in Sports Illustrated, retrieved 5 November 2016:

     "You definitely want to stand up and be counted," said Dempsey. "You're a player the team looks to to get goals and you want to try to help the team win."

   • 2013 February 4, Daniel Taylor, “Steven Gerrard fears England may slip into World Cup play-offs”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 5 November 2016:

     "It was a really tough game [against Montenegro] last time and this one will be the same. We've all got to stand up and be counted."

See also

• nail one's colours to the mast
• take a stand
• take one for the team

Further reading

• “stand up and be counted”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.