take turns

idiomatic phrase

variants also British take it in turns

: to do something one after another in regular succession in order to share the responsibility or opportunity of doing it : alternate

We take turns washing the dishes.

Almost immediately, Rick and Diane begin videotaping their classroom lessons, letting their students take turns with the cameras.

—Ann Bradley

Several youths were around the phone, taking it in turns to gossip and joke with the operator.

—Christopher Isherwood

Examples of take turns in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Both players stand at the same end of the table, taking turns to slide each of their four pucks to the opposite end of the table. —Bestreviews, Mercury News, 23 Feb. 2026

Sitting in a circle the day before opening night, Ukrainian war veterans and drama students took turns reading their lines from a script that traveled centuries to reach them. —ABC News, 21 Feb. 2026

Two teams of four players take turns sliding 42-pound granite stones down a 150-foot-long sheet of ice toward a circular target called the house. —Mark Billingsley, Sacbee.com, 20 Feb. 2026

Cardrooms have continued to offer blackjack and other banked games such as baccarat by giving players the option to take turns dealing the game and by relying on third-party businesses that employ people to act as bankers. —Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 18 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1613, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for take turns

• holofernes
• overturns
• subalterns
• adjourns
• concerns
• discerns
• downturns
• internes
• nocturnes
• returns
• sideburns
• churns