Word.ws English Dictionary

take law into one's own hands

take law into one's own hands is the alternative form of take the law into one's own hands.

Meaning of take the law into one's own hands

Verb

take the law into one's own hands (third-person singular simple present takes the law into one's own hands, present participle taking the law into one's own hands, simple past took the law into one's own hands, past participle taken the law into one's own hands)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To punish someone according to one's own idea of justice, without consideration for the role of law enforcement authorities.
    • After his son's killer was let off without a conviction, the man decided to take the law into his own hands.

Forms of take law into one's own hands

third-person singular presenttakes law into one's own hands
present participletaking law into one's own hands
pasttook law into one's own hands
past participletaken law into one's own hands

Questions about take law into one's own hands

What is take law into one's own hands the alternative form of?
Take law into one's own hands is the alternative form of take the law into one's own hands.

Words near take law into one's own hands in the dictionary

  1. take its course
  2. take its rise
  3. take its toll
  4. take kindly
  5. take L's
  6. take law into one's own hands
  7. take leave
  8. take leave of one's senses
  9. take liberties
  10. take lightly
  11. take long

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take law into one's own hands (page history and authors); take the law into one's own hands (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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