Dictionary

rise to the occasion en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To show resolve or effectiveness in dealing with a difficulty.
   • As it happened, this particular ordeal was exceedingly severe, but nothing can excuse the absolute failure of the troops concerned to rise to the occasion. 1902, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 38, in The Great Boer War:
   • Gabriel, though one of the quietest and most gentle men on earth, rose to the occasion, with martial promptness and vigour. "That's my fist. . . . Now — the first man in the parish that I hear prophesying bad of our mistress, why" (here the fist was raised and let fall as Thor might have done with his hammer in assaying it) — "he'll smell and taste that." 1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter 15, in Far from the Madding Crowd:
   • How many times have we heard this story? The one about people rising to the occasion, storming the cockpit of the hijacked jet, racing into the burning building, tackling the gunman, saving a life. 2011 January 10, David Von Drehle, “The Real Lesson of the Tucson Tragedy”, in Time, retrieved 09 May 2015:
2. (euphemistic, humorous, idiomatic) To achieve an erection of the penis.
   • To his comic fury and shame, the traveller's 'master part' fails to rise to the occasion, and the girl's innocence is preserved. 2001, John R. Williams, The Life of Goethe: A Critical Biography:

Forms

Relateds

answer the call

Synonyms

rise to the challenge

Translations (8)

de sich den Umständen gewachsen zeigen (to show resolve or effectiveness in dealing with a difficulty) · fi nousta tilanteen tasalle (to show resolve or effectiveness in dealing with a difficulty) · de sich der Situation gewachsen zeigen (to show resolve or effectiveness in dealing with a difficulty) · de sich der Lage gewachsen zeigen (to show resolve or effectiveness in dealing with a difficulty) · de den Anforderungen gewachsen sein (to show resolve or effectiveness in dealing with a difficulty) · pl stanąć na wysokości zadania (to show resolve or effectiveness in dealing with a difficulty) · fr se montrer à la hauteur (to show resolve or effectiveness in dealing with a difficulty) · pl stać na wysokości zadania (to show resolve or effectiveness in dealing with a difficulty)