A military expression referring to an issue that the speaker wants to address, but recognizes would be
too much hassle to deal with. It's a metaphor for realizing that, although you want to defend your "hill" from attack, to do so would be
suicidal given the much stronger enemy, and this particular hill isn'
t so vital that you should give up your life for it, so it's best to just retreat.
- "The Colonel wants to kick off the exercise on Monday, but we'
re really not going to be ready until at least Tuesday. But that's not a hill I want to
die on, so I'm just going to go along with what he wants."
- "Look, I understand you'
re upset about them demoting Corporal Thompson, and I know you want to go argue his case with the Sergeant Major, but is that really a hill you want to
die on?"