take kindly to

1. Be receptive to, attracted by, or pleased with, as in He'll take kindly to the criticism if it's constructive, or Henry won't take kindly to your stepping on his newly planted grass. This idiom uses kindly in the sense of “in a pleasant or agreeable manner.” [c. 1800]

Example Sentences

But the Magic Circle did not take kindly to the news.

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Controversy: The movie was considered a thinly veiled swipe at real-life newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who did not take kindly to the celluloid portrait.

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As an adult, I drove through the small towns of central and eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, feeling at home in areas even my white friends warned wouldn’t take kindly to “my type.”

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“Judges aren’t going to take kindly to that no matter who they are.”

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They didn’t take kindly to people pretending to be officers of the law.

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Related Words

• accept 
• authorize 
• boost 
• empower 
• enable 
• endorse 
• grant 
• have 
• license 
• sanction 
• tolerate 
• warrant