1
as in departing
to leave a place often for another
I can only stay for a few minutes, and then I'll need to take off again
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in removing
to rid oneself of (a garment)
take off your coat and stay awhile
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in subtracting
to take away (an amount or number) from a total
the store will take an additional 20% off if you bring in this coupon
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in robbing
slang
to remove valuables from (a place) unlawfully
a gangbanger who decided to take off some fast-food joint
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of taking off
The market is clearly taking off — and fast.
—
Chris Dong, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
The winter coming home sad, the summer coming home happy, slamming the door during an argument, taking off my shoes and sitting on the floor tired from something.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
The state encounters, which are in addition to what local police are doing, add to the total number of people that ICE is taking off the street and preparing to deport.
—Anna Giaritelli, The Washington Examiner, 2 Sep. 2025
Swapping out the old blade for a new one requires opening the two small slider locks and taking off the single handle panel to access the internal hardware.
—New Atlas, 2 Sep. 2025
On his 32-yard rushing touchdown, Pribula fought hard in the pocket before taking off.
—Maddie Hartley, Kansas City Star, 29 Aug. 2025
My career in research started taking off at that college.
—Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025
But Cholewa’s career actually started taking off toward the end of middle school.
—Dave Melton, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2025
That was surely the case for me, someone who loves the look of lashes, but is not the most suited for extensions and absolutely hates taking off mascara at the end of the night.
—Essence, 31 July 2025
Chris Dong, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
The winter coming home sad, the summer coming home happy, slamming the door during an argument, taking off my shoes and sitting on the floor tired from something.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
The state encounters, which are in addition to what local police are doing, add to the total number of people that ICE is taking off the street and preparing to deport.
—Anna Giaritelli, The Washington Examiner, 2 Sep. 2025
Swapping out the old blade for a new one requires opening the two small slider locks and taking off the single handle panel to access the internal hardware.
—New Atlas, 2 Sep. 2025
On his 32-yard rushing touchdown, Pribula fought hard in the pocket before taking off.
—Maddie Hartley, Kansas City Star, 29 Aug. 2025
My career in research started taking off at that college.
—Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025
But Cholewa’s career actually started taking off toward the end of middle school.
—Dave Melton, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2025
That was surely the case for me, someone who loves the look of lashes, but is not the most suited for extensions and absolutely hates taking off mascara at the end of the night.
—Essence, 31 July 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for taking off
Verb
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Collins Aerospace, which provides check-in and boarding systems for several airlines across multiple airports globally, is experiencing a technical issue that may cause delays for departing passengers.—
Washington Examiner Staff,
The Washington Examiner,
22 Sep. 2025
-
According to the flight-tracking platform, all arriving flights were assigned to Runway 04L that night, but the Nouvelair flight made its first approach at Runway 04R, which was only being used for departing flights.—
Kathleen Wong,
USA Today,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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De Sanctis was armed with Q-tips, glue, isopropyl alcohol, lemon oil, and eucalyptus oil (handy for removing any adhesive residue from the surface of a film); a separate room, devoted to slowing or reversing chemical deterioration, gave me an odd sense of having wandered into a witch’s kitchen.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
22 Sep. 2025
-
The find was reported to the Sapporo Museum Activity Center, and a research team then spent the better part of a decade carefully removing the bones from the sediment.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Business inventories also shrank, subtracting over three percentage points from GDP.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Sep. 2025
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The Boys & Girls Club donation counter Bargatze spoke ahead of the show about his effort to keep speeches on time by subtracting from a $100,000 donation to the Boys & Girls Club every time someone went over.—
Sandra Gonzalez,
CNN Money,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Refusing to engage with it means robbing yourself of the experience, like walking into a museum eyes closed rather than appreciating any of the paintings.—
Alyssa Mercante,
Rolling Stone,
25 Sep. 2025
-
One of the shooting deaths included in ADL’s data involved the suspect robbing a fast-food restaurant and then stealing a getaway vehicle.—
Mia Cathell,
The Washington Examiner,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Over half a dozen missions have contributed to how astronomers understand the heliosphere, and two enduring spacecraft, the Voyager probes, have collected key data after exiting the heliosphere to explore interstellar space.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
24 Sep. 2025
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Outside of penning her first memoir, Rinna has kept busy since exiting RHOBH in January 2023.—
Bailey Richards,
PEOPLE,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The review added that the ongoing bit about the deducting from a charitable donation for longer speech set a negative tone.—
Emily Zemler,
Rolling Stone,
16 Sep. 2025
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Using debt wisely can also offer tax advantages, such as deducting mortgage interest from taxable income.—
Gabriel Shahin,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The traffic itself generally keeps moving rather than fully stopping.—
Eric D. Lawrence,
USA Today,
28 Sep. 2025
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Former Arkansas head coach and current offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino will reportedly become the interim head coach at Arkansas moving forward, according to Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports.—
Reice Shipley,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Sep. 2025
Verb
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While automakers are putting off and/or cancelling vehicles that only run on electrons, given high development costs and a weak market, Subaru is confident in the direction it is headed.—
Eileen Falkenberg-Hull,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Sep. 2025
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Similarly, white Americans are nearly four times as likely to skip or delay vaccinating their children compared to Asian Americans, with 19 percent and 5 percent, respectively, forgoing or putting off inoculating their kids, according to the poll.—
Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech,
The Hill,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Taking off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/taking%20off. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.
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