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

But taking care of Broward’s oldest house is not easy. —Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 10 Oct. 2025

The Giants took care of business in primetime, beating the Eagles 34-17 with three rushing touchdowns from rookie Cam Skattebo. —Valentina Martinez, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025

Nobody is taking care of that for them. —Megan Feringa, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025

Both actresses are terrific — bringing depth to the film’s high-concept logline — and Sarandon does arguably have the showier part, as the older woman who doesn’t think this young, fabulous creature is worthy of taking care of her children. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 10 Oct. 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