take one for the team

Meaning:

‘to take one for the team’ is an expression from sports. It means ‘to fail or to get hurt so that your team can win’. For example, an American footballer called Ronnie Lot once badly broke his little finger. If he had had many surgeries to fix that finger, he wouldn’t have been able to play in the football championships that year. So Ronnie Lot got his damaged finger cut off so he could recover faster and help his team! If you say, ‘I’m going to take one for the team’, you are saying ‘I’m ok to suffer to help you all’. If you say, ‘Take one for the team!’, you are telling someone else, ‘Be a hero and suffer for us!’ This expression can be used in business, friendship – anywhere there are groups. It has a positive nuance.