Word.ws English Dictionary

take it out on

take it out on verb: to unleash one's anger on (a person or thing other than the one that caused it).

Verb

take it out on (third-person singular simple present takes it out on, present participle taking it out on, simple past took it out on, past participle taken it out on)

  1. (idiomatic) To unleash one's anger on (a person or thing other than the one that caused it).
    • Don't take it out on your husband if you had trouble with your boss at work.

Synonyms of take it out on

Forms of take it out on

third-person singular presenttakes it out on
present participletaking it out on
pasttook it out on
past participletaken it out on

Questions about take it out on

What does take it out on mean?
Take it out on means to unleash one's anger on (a person or thing other than the one that caused it).
What part of speech is take it out on?
Take it out on is a verb.
What is the past tense of take it out on?
The past tense of take it out on is took it out on.

Words near take it out on in the dictionary

  1. take it on the lam
  2. take it or leave it
  3. take it or leave it alone
  4. take it out in
  5. take it out of
  6. take it out on
  7. take it outside
  8. take it sleazy
  9. take it to the house
  10. take it up the arse
  11. take it up the ass

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take it out on (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: En-au-take it out on.ogg.

Cite this entry: “take it out on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/take_it_out_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.