take time

idiom

1

: to need or require time to happen or be done

You have to be patient. Things like this take time.

It may take some time for the medication to wear off.

The meeting won't take too much time.

This job is easy and will take no time at all.

2

or take the time : to use an amount of time in order to do something important

They never took the time to get to know her.

I took some time to think about it, and my answer is still "no."

Examples of take time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Many women working for an hourly wage can't afford to take time off for doctor visits. —Kirby Adams, The Courier-Journal, 7 Aug. 2025

According to Coffee, commanders can order employees to take time off if the plan is not followed. —Amelia Wu, Sacbee.com, 4 Aug. 2025

The collection of economic data can take time due to the slow response rates of those surveyed and the size of the economy. —Filip Timotija, The Hill, 1 Aug. 2025

The judge has not (yet) made that determination, and the case will take time to play out in the pretrial process. —Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 30 July 2025

Rhymes for take time

• aforetime
• allozyme
• anytime
• christmastime
• cybercrime
• dinnertime
• guggenheim
• isozyme
• lysozyme
• maritime
• mesenchyme
• overtime