take sides
Verb
Meaning
take sides (third-person singular simple present takes sides, present participle taking sides, simple past took sides, past participle taken sides)
(idiomatic) To ally oneself with a given opinion, agenda or group; to support one side or viewpoint in a competition or confrontation.
I am not going to argue with you, and I am not going to take sides in this discussion.
Synonyms: pick sides, choose sides
Examples
An alliance could have meant the loss of its liberty so a prudent course of action was taken: not to take sides until it became inevitable.
General Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst turned down an appointment as commander in chief due to an unwillingness to take sides in the conflict.
Cagney, page 183 However, the emerging labor movement of the 1920s and 1930s soon forced him to take sides.
"Abadi has also reiterated that Iraq wants good ties with all its neighbours and was not looking to take sides between Saudi Arabia and Iran."
He does not refuse to take sides in this confrontation, but he is extraordinarily perceptive and eloquent on the mutuality that exists between both sides.
Erasmus, at the height of his literary fame, was inevitably called upon to take sides, but partisanship was foreign to his nature and his habits.