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

Lean on one another and take care of your well-being. —Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 7 Nov. 2025

And there are friends and relatives who’ve also been taken care of, Murphy says. —Erin Jensen, USA Today, 7 Nov. 2025

When no one in the Fortune 500 wants to risk offending Trump, leave it to Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog to take care of business. —Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2025

And, yeah, that taught me that idea of always taking care of the audience, doing your best to send them home happy, and believing in what the performance is. —Scott Feinberg, HollywoodReporter, 6 Nov. 2025

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