take five

phrase

variants or take ten

US, informal

: to take a brief break (as from work)

They're locked in a fierce debate over the last scene of their film … when camp director and Hollywood veteran Sam Dalton finally orders them to take five.

—Megan Myers

Parry Aftab, the executive director of WiredSafety.org, offers these tips for dealing with troubling messages. … Take five. Instead of replying to a message that upsets you, step away and do something you enjoy for five minutes.

—Nicole Iorio

I could see his anger had nearly boiled over. … Coach Colby, who ran the defense, was the brave soul who stepped in. "Take ten," he said, placing a hand on Orlando's chest. "Cool off. Then suit up and meet at the fifty-yard line. Got it?"

—Brandon Terrell

Examples of take five in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Town of Natick The walk between the two trails that currently takes about 20 minutes will only take five once it's done. — Neal Riley, CBS News, 30 July 2026

The training takes five to six weeks for new hires who go through it now. — Claire Zillman, Fortune, 30 July 2026

The Slovenian took five stage victories and gifted two away, bringing his Tour de France total to 26, just nine shy of record-holder Mark Cavendish. — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 26 July 2026

Transformer deliveries can take five years One of the most serious challenges identified in the report is the time required to procure new transformers. — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 18 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1916, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for take five

• overdrive
• alive
• archive
• arrive
• beehive
• connive
• contrive
• deprive
• derive
• khedive
• revive
• survive