take care

idiomatic phrase

1

: to be careful or watchful : to exercise caution or prudence

Because fish is more delicate than beef, take care when pounding it thin.

—Sam Gugino

Patients also should take care in storing their drugs because heat exposure could affect their efficacy, [Aaron] Bernstein says.

—Marlene Cimons

—often used informally to express good wishes when parting, at the end of a message, etc.

I'll see you next week. Take care!

2

: to give particular attention to doing or not doing something

When he had finished writing, Cluny pushed the parchment under his pillow, taking care to leave just a small corner of it jutting out.

—Brian Jacques

In this land of ritual, Westerners should take care to inform themselves of protocol.

—Jeff Morgan

Open oysters carefully just before they are required, taking care not to spill the liquor in their deep shells.

—Elizabeth Craig

see also take care of

Examples of take care in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The vehicle has over 80,000 miles on it but looks to have been well taken care of over the years. —Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 6 Apr. 2024

Retailers also must take care to avoid the appearance of discrimination. —Lydia Depillis Lydia Depillis, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2024

The Leon County Sheriff's EARTH Haven program, or Ecology And Reentry Training Hub Haven, has four active beehives that inmates are taking care of with hopes of harvesting honey and beeswax. —Alicia Devine, USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2024

Renovation and restoration While the newspaper article offered a wealth of information on the look of the home, some major structural issues had to be taken care of before any cosmetic work could begin. —Lennie Omalza, The Courier-Journal, 4 Apr. 2024

The policymakers must take care not to cut rates too soon or inflation could stay high — or even re-accelerate. —Christopher Rugaber, Quartz, 3 Apr. 2024

As well as taking care of her instrument, Lulu also revealed that her long career has been helped by maintaining a keen interest in meditation for more than four decades. —Jack Guy, CNN, 2 Apr. 2024

Coleman is back but has been taking care of an injury after competing in the sprints on the indoor circuit and won’t be ready to go Saturday. —Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2024

The Special Operations Warrior Foundation takes care of educating those children. —Vera Bergengruen, TIME, 1 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1562, in the meaning defined at sense 2