take care

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

If risk management fails and a liability arises, hopefully it will be taken care of by liability insurance. — Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2026

The Liberty easily took care of the Aces, 111-71, in a game head coach Becky Hammon opted to rest her star trio — A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray. — Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 9 Aug. 2026

Bodily took care of the rest, chipping his shot over Madison goalkeeper JT Harms for the decisive goal. — Idaho Statesman, 9 Aug. 2026

There’s a single disc at each end to take care of braking, but at least the bike does come with dual-channel ABS. — New Atlas, 8 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1562, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for take care

• aftercare
• anywhere
• billionaire
• chinaware
• debonair
• dinnerware
• disrepair
• doctrinaire
• earthenware
• everywhere
• frigidaire
• kitchenware