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Synonyms

take to

British  

verb

  1. to make for; flee to

    to take to the hills

  2. to form a liking for, esp after a short acquaintance

    I took to him straightaway

  3. to have recourse to

    to take to the bottle

  4. to regard seriously

"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
take to Idioms  

  1. Have recourse to, go to, as in They took to the woods . [c. 1200]

  2. Develop as a habit or steady practice, as in He took to coming home later and later . [c. 1300]

  3. Become fond of, like, as in I took to him immediately , or The first time she skied she took to it . This expression, from the mid-1700s, is sometimes expanded to take to it like a duck to water , a simile dating from the late 1800s.

  4. take to be . Understand, consider, or assume, as in I took it to be the right entrance . [Mid-1500s] Also see the subsequent entries beginning with take to .

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.

He proposed this to Reynolds and Mac, who immediately responded by asking what it would take to reach the top two.

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026

Locals from rural areas gathered at a recent event at the University of Cincinnati to talk about what action they can take to keep data centers at bay.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

Tweens can create simple budgets for their allowances and map out savings goals, like how many weeks it would take to save for a videogame, and what the tradeoffs are.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026

Fret not: There are several simple precautions you can take to prevent a flea-borne typhus infection.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

Cat looked at Chicken hard, her brain calculating how long it would take to reach him.

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.