Word.ws English Dictionary

take a rain check

take a rain check verb: to request or accept a rain check (an agreement from a merchant to honor a special offer, temporarily unavailable, after the expiration date).

Verb

take a rain check (third-person singular simple present takes a rain check, present participle taking a rain check, simple past took a rain check, past participle taken a rain check)

  1. To request or accept a rain check (an agreement from a merchant to honor a special offer, temporarily unavailable, after the expiration date).
  2. (figuratively) In social interactions, to request a deferred invitation, as a polite way to turn down an engagement, usually with the implication that one is simply postponing it and another time might be acceptable.
    • I can't go with you to the museum this Saturday, but can I take a rain check?
    • "Would you mind if we took a rain check on our trip to Boston today?" Her hair lay spread around the pillow, and he combed it with his fingers, smoothing it around her head.1996, Joe Hutsko, Undo
    Synonyms:
    raincheck

Synonyms of take a rain check

Forms of take a rain check

third-person singular presenttakes a rain check
present participletaking a rain check
pasttook a rain check
past participletaken a rain check
alternative formtake a raincheck

Questions about take a rain check

What does take a rain check mean?
Take a rain check means to request or accept a rain check (an agreement from a merchant to honor a special offer, temporarily unavailable, after the expiration date).
What part of speech is take a rain check?
Take a rain check is a verb.
What is the past tense of take a rain check?
The past tense of take a rain check is took a rain check.

Words near take a rain check in the dictionary

  1. take a pill
  2. take a piss
  3. take a pitch
  4. take a powder
  5. take a pull
  6. take a rain check
  7. take a raincheck
  8. take a reef in
  9. take a ride to Tyburn
  10. take a risk
  11. take a run at

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take a rain check (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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