take after

verb

took after; taken after; taking after; takes after

transitive verb

: to resemble (someone) in features, build, character, or disposition
a daughter who takes after her mother
"That's Tulliver's son," said the publican to a grocer standing on the adjacent door-step. "Ah!" said the grocer, "I thought I knew his features. He takes after his mother's family."George Eliot
"His father was lazy but his mother hasn't a lazy bone in her body, and Peter takes after her."Lucy Maud Montgomery

Examples of take after in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Corfield, for her part, was excited and undaunted by the challenge of having to push Julia to her breaking point take after take. Max Gao, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2025 Photos taken after the crash and later shared by the sheriff’s office on Facebook show a hole in a porch area and the remnants of a red and white RC plane, NBC affiliate KNTV reported. David Chiu, People.com, 2 Sep. 2025 No action was taken after the executive session. Chuck Fieldman, Chicago Tribune, 2 Sep. 2025 According to police, the former QB refused a field sobriety test at the scene and was later taken to a hospital, where a blood sample was taken after authorities got a search warrant. Ben Church, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for take after

Word History

First Known Use

1627, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of take after was in 1627

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Cite this Entry

“Take after.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/take%20after. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

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