takeaway

American  

[teyk-uh-wey] / ˈteɪk əˌweɪ /

Or take-away

noun

takeaways plural

1. something taken back or away, especially an employee benefit that is eliminated or substantially reduced by the terms of a union contract.

2. conclusions, impressions, or action points resulting from a meeting, discussion, roundtable, or the like.

   The takeaway was that we had to do a lot more work on the proposal before it could be shown to the governing board.

3. Chiefly British.

   1. a takeout restaurant.

      Let's pick something up at the Indian takeaway.

   2. food from a takeout restaurant.

      I get Chinese takeaway at least once a week.

4. Sports.

   1. (in hockey and football) the act of getting the puck or ball away from the team on the offense.

      The problem with most hockey statistics is they are not very consistent in how they determine takeaways and giveaways.

   2. (in golf) a backswing.

      I got him a video entitled “Improving the Takeaway in Your Golf Swing” for his birthday.

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adjective

1. of or relating to what is or can be taken away.

   a list of takeaway proposals presented by management.

2. Chiefly British. takeout.

Usage

What does takeaway mean? Takeaway is popularly used to mean the main thing you’ve learned, will remember, or need to take action on after having been presented with information, such as during a meeting or in a report. Take away is a common phrasal verb that’s used in a lot of contexts, and takeaway as a noun has a lot of different meanings. It’s sometimes spelled take-away. In the U. K., takeaway is the word for what Americans call takeout—food picked up from a restaurant to eat elsewhere, typically at home. It can also refer to the restaurant where you get it. In hockey and American football, a takeaway happens when the puck or ball is somehow taken away from the opposing team. Example: The biggest takeaway from the intern meeting was to not post pictures or videos on social media that could reflect badly on the company.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• takeaways
  plural

Etymology

Origin of takeaway

1930–35 for earlier sense “train car for carrying logs”; 1960–65 takeaway for def. 5; take + away

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

takeaway takeaways

For businesses, though, the most significant takeaway is whether practical applications—from solving optimization problems to making breakthroughs in areas like materials science and medicine—will be possible with quantum computers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

But it’s also a savvy, deliberative portrait of leadership in a fractured time, with a unique takeaway: Knowing oneself is as essential to the job as knowing who one’s friends and enemies are.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

Fish and chips is a staple takeaway for families across the south, but how have rising fish and energy prices affected how much this classic meal costs?

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

“The right takeaway is not that cyclicality has disappeared but that normalized earnings power has likely moved much higher and the next downside cycle may be better protected than investors historically assumed.”

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

We sit down on opposite sides of a glass table piled high with papers, magazines and takeaway menus.

From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

The fundamental takeaways are that the same argument which supports index funds and stock-market investing — namely that they have worked in the past — supports investing in momentum.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

The human personality resists easy analysis — that is surely one of Aviv’s takeaways.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

The two rarely had takeaways and always took packed lunches to work.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

Some takeaways from Elm as we entrust more of our lives to AI: The models understood better than most humans how to size simple bets like coin flips.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

People are cooking, eating takeaways in the streets.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah

Related Words

• outcome
• result
• upshot