Word.ws English Dictionary

for the taking

Syllables: for the tak·ing/fə ðə ˈteɪkɪŋ//fɚ ðə ˈteɪkɪŋ/

for the taking prepositional phrase: available; able to be taken without difficulty.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Available; able to be taken without difficulty.
    • "He that believeth hath everlasting life." That life is no distant blessing, hard to win and costly to purchase. It is free. It is yours for the taking. It becomes yours the moment you believe.[1850?], anonymous [possibly written or edited by Horatius Bonar], The Night Cometh (Kelso Tracts; no. 43), London: James Nisbet & Co., […], →OCLC, page 7
    • After all these years of abnegation the crown might yet be his—was his for the taking.1862 November, “Madeleine Schaeffer. In Three Parts.—Part III.”, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume XXV, number CL, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, […], →OCLC, chapter VII, page...

Examples of for the taking in a sentence

  • But how much more dreadful to 'pass the time' when you were strong, and life were yours for the taking!1919 October, John Galsworthy, chapter I, in Saint’s Progress, London: William Heinemann, published December 1919, →OCLC, part IV, page 357:
  • She had no desire to go near the Swenster mansion again, but neither could she bear to have Enid or Jane sharing in an adventure which was hers for the taking.1932, Ann Wirt [pseudonym; Mildred Benson], “The Swenster Pearls”, in The Secret of the Sundial (The Madge Sterling Series), Chicago, Ill....
  • With the non-steam types maximum power is there for the taking, as it were—at any time.1960 April, O. S. Nock, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 263:
  • These benefits are there for the taking by any generation willing to take the risks involved.1989, Arthur E[dward] Smith, “Introduction”, in Mars: The Next Step, Bristol; New York, N.Y.: Adam Hilger, IOP Publishing, →ISBN, page xxi:

Questions about for the taking

What does for the taking mean?
For the taking means available; able to be taken without difficulty.
How do you use for the taking in a sentence?
But how much more dreadful to 'pass the time' when you were strong, and life were yours for the taking!
What part of speech is for the taking?
For the taking is a prepositional phrase.
How do you pronounce for the taking?
For the taking is pronounced /fə ðə ˈteɪkɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near for the taking in the dictionary

  1. for the plot
  2. for the present
  3. for the record
  4. for the rest
  5. for the sake of
  6. for the taking
  7. for the time
  8. for the time being
  9. for the want of
  10. for the win
  11. for the world

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: for the taking (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-for the taking.wav, En-us-for the taking.oga.

Cite this entry: “for the taking.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/for_the_taking. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.