look after

British

verb

to take care of; be responsible for

she looked after the child while I was out
to follow with the eyes

he looked after the girl thoughtfully

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

look after Idioms

Also, look out for; see after. Take care of, attend to the safety or well-being of, as in Please look after your little brother, or We left Jane to look out for the children, or Please see after the luggage. The first expression dates from the second half of the 1300s, the second from the mid-1900s, and the third from the early 1700s.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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look after

With no one left to protect her, she’s learning to look after herself and those she cares about.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

Thanks to climate change, farmers must now rethink the way they look after these animals, keep them inside when the risk is high, or consider spending money on vaccination.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

"They all seemed quite excited for there to be a new iteration," Engelsman says, adding that Clarkson even told them: "We'll look after you".

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

How can she set up a rock-solid estate plan with a trustee to look after her grandson’s financial well-being?

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

And he continued to look after her until she passed in 1985.

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

look after

verb

Example Sentences

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