English · Idiom Candidate

stand up and be counted

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

I still remain to be convinced that either Cantona (or McAllister for that matter) can stand up and be counted when the crunch matches come around.

It simply appealed ‘ to all Conservatives to stand up and be counted against Humphrey Berkeley's Bill in favour of homosexuals’.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review.

Common questions

What does “stand up and be counted” mean?

Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.

Is “stand up and be counted” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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