Word.ws English Dictionary

take its toll

take its toll verb: to affect something, especially negatively; to damage or degrade; to cause harm or destruction.

Verb

take its toll (third-person singular simple present takes its toll, present participle taking its toll, simple past took its toll, past participle taken its toll)

  1. (idiomatic, often) To affect something, especially negatively; to damage or degrade; to cause harm or destruction.
    • Time had taken its toll on the old bridge, and it was no longer sound.
    • Heavy smoking and drinking will take its toll on a person's health.
    Synonyms:
    do a number on

Synonyms of take its toll

Forms of take its toll

third-person singular presenttakes its toll
present participletaking its toll
pasttook its toll
past participletaken its toll
alternative formtake a toll
alternative formtake their toll
alternative formtake a heavy toll

Questions about take its toll

What does take its toll mean?
Take its toll means to affect something, especially negatively; to damage or degrade; to cause harm or destruction.
What part of speech is take its toll?
Take its toll is a verb.
What is the past tense of take its toll?
The past tense of take its toll is took its toll.

Words near take its toll in the dictionary

  1. take it up the rear end
  2. take it upon oneself
  3. take it, or leave it
  4. take its course
  5. take its rise
  6. take its toll
  7. take kindly
  8. take L's
  9. take law into one's own hands
  10. take leave
  11. take leave of one's senses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take its toll (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 its toll.ogg.

Cite this entry: “take its toll.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/take_its_toll. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.