speak for yourself


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speak for (oneself)

1. To express one's opinion as one's own, and not represent it as being indicative of anyone else's. Used as an imperative when there is disagreement. A: "We just love traveling." B: "Speak for yourself—I think it's exhausting."
2. To express one's own opinion or point of view, especially in contrast to those of others. She needs to speak for herself—I'm not a mind-reader! Speaking for myself, I haven't noticed any of the problems that David is bringing up.
See also: for, speak
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

speak for yourself

INFORMAL
If you say Speak for yourself when someone has said something, you mean that you do not agree with them, or that what they have said only applies to them. `We're not blaming you,' Kate said. `Speak for yourself,' Boris muttered. `We love you, too,' Cooper said. `Hey, speak for yourself,' Sasha told her.
See also: for, speak
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

speak for yourself

give your own opinions.
The exclamation speak for yourself! indicates to someone that an opinion they have expressed is not shared by yourself and is resented.
See also: for, speak
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

speak for yourˈself

(spoken, informal) used to tell somebody that a general statement they have just made is not true of you: ‘We didn’t play very well.’ ‘Speak for yourself!’ (= I think that I played well).
See also: for, speak
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

speak for yourself

Take your own part, not someone else’s; also, that’s your opinion, not necessarily mine. In the first meaning, this term dates from the nineteenth century and was popularized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in “The Courtship of Miles Standish” (1858), recounting the wooing of Priscilla Carpenter by John Alden for Captain Standish. Priscilla “said, in a tremulous voice,‘Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?’”With or without John, the term has been so used ever since. Also, since at least the early eighteenth century, the expression has signified implicit disagreement. Jonathan Swift used it in Polite Conversation (1738): “Pray, sir, speak for yourself.”
See also: for, speak
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
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References in classic literature ?
Speak for yourself, you will say, and for your miseries in your underground holes, and don't dare to say all of us--excuse me, gentlemen, I am not justifying myself with that "all of us." As for what concerns me in particular I have only in my life carried to an extreme what you have not dared to carry halfway, and what's more, you have taken your cowardice for good sense, and have found comfort in deceiving yourselves.
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"Stuff an' nonsense!" said Miranda "Speak for yourself. I feel fitted to cope with any child that ever was born int' the world!"
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"Speak for yourself when you are inclined to utter such incongruities," interrupted Aramis.
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Here there are too many whom you can hide behind; but with her you will be forced to speak for yourself."
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"Speak for yourself, my lord," interrupted Buckingham with vexation; "for my part, I displease her royal highness to such a degree, that I appear absolutely nothing to her."
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'Speak for yourself, woman,' said the man within the coach, coldly.
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Who would you want to speak for you if, after a serious accident or illness, you could not speak for yourself? A peaceful death at home is available to all Americans thanks to the Medicare Hospice Benefit, but have you told your family and medical practitioners about your wishes?
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They work on the throat and help give you the confidence to speak for yourself."
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