high ground

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

high ground (countable and uncountable, plural high grounds)

1. (idiomatic, uncountable, usually with "the") A position of advantage or superiority in a conflict or competition.
   • 2006 September 27, Mike Allen, “Why the Fight Over Intelligence May Be a Wash”, in Time‎, archived from the original on 5 September 2008:

     President George W. Bush had once again outmaneuvered them by taking the national-security high ground in an election year.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see high,‎ ground.
   • 1872, Mark Twain, chapter 69, in Roughing It:

     The trail passes along on high ground—say a thousand feet above sea level.

• (1): ground

• moral high ground