take aim at

phrase

: to have (something or someone) as a target

new legislation that takes aim at crime

… reformers are trying to recharge an apathetic electorate by taking aim at the very process of voting itself.

—Wilma Rule et al.

… ski marketers are now taking aim at older skiers, women, boomers with young families, and their kids.

—Jon Bowermaster

Whereas most previous HIV drugs block enzymes the virus used to copy itself, the new ones take aim at different stages in the virus's life cycle …

—Susan Karlin

Word History

First Known Use

1545, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for take aim at

• aristocrat
• magnificat
• acrobat
• autocrat
• automat
• bundesrat
• bureaucrat
• butterfat
• caveat
• chemostat
• copycat
• cryostat