Word.ws English Dictionary

the captain goes down with the ship

the captain goes down with the ship proverb: a leader is ultimately responsible for the penalities of a catastrophe, even if they result from external causes or the misactions of others under the leader's purview.

Proverb

the captain goes down with the ship

  1. A leader is ultimately responsible for the penalities of a catastrophe, even if they result from external causes or the misactions of others under the leader's purview.

Synonyms of the captain goes down with the ship

Origin of the captain goes down with the ship

From the maritime tradition that a sea captain holds ultimate responsibility for both their ship and everyone embarked on it, and in an emergency will either save those on board or die trying.

Questions about the captain goes down with the ship

What does the captain goes down with the ship mean?
The captain goes down with the ship means a leader is ultimately responsible for the penalities of a catastrophe, even if they result from external causes or the misactions of others under the leader's purview.
What part of speech is the captain goes down with the ship?
The captain goes down with the ship is a proverb.

Words near the captain goes down with the ship in the dictionary

  1. the cake is a lie
  2. the call is coming from inside the house
  3. The Call of South Africa
  4. the camera never lies
  5. the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long
  6. the captain goes down with the ship
  7. the carpet matches the drapes
  8. the case rests
  9. the cat is out of the bag
  10. the cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet
  11. the cat's out of the bag

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the captain goes down with the ship (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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