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

They are born to their fathers as property, and married to their husbands as property, and then taken care of by their sons as a nuisance. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2026

The former chef has diabetes but didn’t take care of it while homeless. — Laura Ungar, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2026

There was like ten minutes of just chaos, with kids throwing dirt everywhere and getting excited to get little seeds put in their hands, and then being able to bring their plant home, and take care of it. — Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026

Outside of a neutral site opener against Auburn, in which the Bears had a chance to win on the last play even with a hobbled DJ Lagway, Baylor has taken care of business and is 3-1 through four weeks. — Austin Perry Outkick, FOXNews.com, 29 Sep. 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