step out of line

step out of line (third-person singular simple present steps out of line, present participle stepping out of line, simple past and past participle stepped out of line)

1. (figuratively) To break the rules of society.
   • 1966 December, Stephen Stills, “For What It's Worth”‎performed by Buffalo Springfield:

     It starts when you're always afraid / Step out of line, the man come and take you away

   • 2009, Trudier Harris, The Scary Mason-Dixon Line: African American Writers and the South, LSU Press, →ISBN:

     By recalling the lynching and imagining that as the “rightful” place for black men who step out of line, Jesse, the sheriff, can collect his nerves sufficiently to confront the demonstrators

   • 2012, Henry Jacoby, Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper Than Swords, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 176:

     If you step out of line and indulge in immoral acts, you're breaking the contract with your fellow citizens.

   • 2013, Chris Hamilton, On the Path to Enlightenment, Balboa Press, →ISBN, page 65:

     We have been conditioned from early childhood to be afraid; if we step out of line we will not be accepted.

• cross the line
• fall in line
• toe the line

• “step out of line”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “step out of line”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “step out of line” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “step out of line” (US) / “step out of line” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.