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

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

Later in the match, Yastika Bhatia joined her, scoring 113 for a first women's test century at Lord's, while Ecclestone took five wickets of her own as India stretched its advantage in the second innings. — ABC News, 13 July 2026

Work that would traditionally take five specialists months, Stanhouse says, was done by a single engineer in a month, with the final transfer taking just 47 minutes. — Sam Birchall, Fortune, 9 July 2026

By just taking five seconds to breathe, Williams completely shifted her brain’s stress response. — Kevin Kruse, Forbes.com, 7 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