take care

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 the Geneva Convention, passed in 1949, says that there must be a warning with a reasonable period of time before any attack, and that the attack must be proportional to the military threat and take care to prevent civilian casualties. — Kareem Chehayeb, Los Angeles Times, 12 Nov. 2026

Film crews had already begun to crowd around his gate, but Duffy said the production company behind Dallas did everything in their power to take care of him at the time. — Angel Saunders, PEOPLE, 12 Nov. 2026

But the Hurricanes will have to take care of business the rest of the way, starting with a Duke team that is hitting its stride. — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 12 Nov. 2026

If On or Under Armour were to develop the next must-have sneaker, the rest will take care of itself. — Sara Germano, Sportico.com, 12 Nov. 2026

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