take notice

idiomatic phrase

: to become aware of or give attention to something or someone : to observe or treat something or someone with special attention
… one Saturday in October 1984, San Francisco coach Bill Walsh flipped on the TV to watch college football, saw Rice on the highlights and took notice.Peter King
often used with of
It was a while before anyone took notice of the change.
… suggests that the academy is at last beginning to sit up and take notice of how the world really works.Terry Teachout
They took no notice of him. [=they ignored him]

Examples of take notice in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Regulators, governmental officials and politicians are starting to take notice of stay-or-pay clauses. Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein, New York Times, 20 Nov. 2023 That said, anytime code running inside a virtual machine can crash the hypervisor the VM runs on, cloud providers like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and others are going to immediately take notice. Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 14 Nov. 2023 Lawyers say other types of money managers need to take notice—even those that aren’t venture investors and aren’t based in California. Chris Cumming, WSJ, 13 Nov. 2023 The reason to take notice of the disease and its tiny sand fly vectors now is that researchers are starting to notice more cases are originating in the U.S. than usual. Nick Blackmer, Verywell Health, 29 Oct. 2023 Put more bluntly, when a mismatch between supply and demand results in rising Treasury yields, politicians in Washington tend to take notice. Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 27 Oct. 2023 At one protest in Seoul last month, 200,000 gathered, according to organizers, forcing the government to take notice and action. Paula Hancocks, CNN, 27 Oct. 2023 Thankfully society, and the marketplace, are beginning to take notice. Eileen Finan, Peoplemag, 18 Oct. 2023 Peppers said he’s taken notice of FIFA’s insistence on having grass surfaces for soccer games in the upcoming World Cup in 2026. Khari Thompson, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'take notice.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1586, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of take notice was in 1586

Dictionary Entries Near take notice

Cite this Entry

“Take notice.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/take%20notice. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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