take a/its toll

idiom

: to have a serious, bad effect on someone or something : to cause harm or damage

If you keep working so hard, the stress will eventually take its toll.

—often + on

Too much sunlight can take a (heavy) toll on your skin.

Her illness has taken a toll on her marriage.

Examples of take a/its toll in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Already, the 10% tariff Trump levied on practically every country’s exports to the US, and the extra 50% tariff on steel and aluminum and 25% on cars, is starting to take a toll on some foreign countries’ economies. —Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 15 June 2025

Drug abuse continued to take its toll on an increasingly reclusive Sly, and despite sporadic reappearances over the last four decades, a true comeback was never really in the cards for the music legend. —Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, 13 June 2025

There is also some indication that climate change may take its toll. —Christian Weller, Forbes.com, 11 June 2025

Trump’s tariffs, detentions take a toll on local tourism April 12, 2025 There was an appreciable drop in visitors to the United States from Europe in March, after the Trump administration introduced an aggressive crackdown on immigration. —Erik Kirschbaum, Los Angeles Times, 17 May 2025