take a hint
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For seeming unable to take a hint, Judge Beetlestone risks a rebuke.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
Meredith is long-winded and short-sighted, unable to take a hint, let alone relax.
From Salon • Oct. 15, 2025
Speaking as a loyal Bruin alumnus, maybe Dan Guerrero will take a hint from Lynn Swann and likewise resign.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 13, 2019
There is no reason why you should be setting timers and internally clucking at his inability to take a hint.
From Slate • Sep. 27, 2017
He murped, then went to the edge of the overgrowth and stood there agitatedly, waiting for me to follow, glaring at me like I was an idiot who didn’t know how to take a hint.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
![]()
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.