take someone at their word
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English[edit]
Verb[edit]
take someone at their word (third-person singular simple present takes someone at their word, present participle taking someone at their word, simple past took someone at their word, past participle taken someone at their word)
- (transitive) To take someone literally even though they may not have been serious; to take someone seriously even though they were joking; to take up a challenge that was initially meant as a joke.
- (transitive) To take someone's word for it, to believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true.
Translations[edit]
take someone literally even though they may not have been serious
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believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true
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See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “take someone at their word” (US) / “take someone at their word” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
- “take someone at their word”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “take sb at their word”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “take someone at his word”, in Collins English Dictionary.