step into the breach

English

Verb

step into the breach (third-person singular simple present steps into the breach, present participle stepping into the breach, simple past and past participle stepped into the breach)

1. (figuratively) To do a task that one is not ordinarily expected to do because there is no one else to do it.

   Synonyms: leap into the breach, jump into the breach

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: tulla tilalle, tulla apuun
• French: prendre le relai (fr), remplacer (fr)
• German: in die Bresche springen (de)
• Polish: wypełniać lukę impf, wypełnić lukę pf

See also

• bell the cat
• take one for the team
• once more into the breach

Further reading

• “step into the breach” (US) / “step into the breach” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “step into the breach”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “step into the breach” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “step into the breach”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “step into the breach”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “into the breach”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.