take matters into one's own hands
take matters into one's own hands verb: to deal with a problem alone instead of waiting on others (often persons who are responsible and have failed to deal with the issue).
Verb
take matters into one's own hands (third-person singular simple present takes matters into one's own hands, present participle taking matters into one's own hands, simple past took matters into one's own hands, past participle taken matters into one's own hands)
- To deal with a problem alone instead of waiting on others (often persons who are responsible and have failed to deal with the issue).
- But while the two strapping front men battered Foster, they could not better him, and in the absence of tangible reward for his creative efforts, Pennant almost took matters into his own hands, curling a low free-kick inches wide of Foster's left-hand upright.2011 February 12, Les Roopanarine, “Birmingham 1 - 0 Stoke”, in BBC
- But as soon as McKenzie was informed, she sprang into action and decided to take matters into her own hands. […] The Harris County Sheriff’s Department told them to wait 24 hours before filing a formal missing persons report because he was an adult. But the family didn’t wait; they launched their...2026 August 23, Aniket Chaughule, “Christopher Thompkins Vanished From a Georgia Survey Site in 2002. His Coworkers Were Only 50 Feet Away”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 24 Aug 2026
- Synonyms:
- take the matter into one's own hands
Synonyms of take matters into one's own hands
Forms of take matters into one's own hands
| third-person singular present | takes matters into one's own hands |
|---|---|
| present participle | taking matters into one's own hands |
| past | took matters into one's own hands |
| past participle | taken matters into one's own hands |
Questions about take matters into one's own hands
- What does take matters into one's own hands mean?
- Take matters into one's own hands means to deal with a problem alone instead of waiting on others (often persons who are responsible and have failed to deal with the issue).
- What part of speech is take matters into one's own hands?
- Take matters into one's own hands is a verb.
- What is the past tense of take matters into one's own hands?
- The past tense of take matters into one's own hands is took matters into one's own hands.
Words near take matters into one's own hands in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: take matters 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-take matters into one's own hands.ogg.
Cite this entry: “take matters into one's own hands.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/take_matters_into_one%27s_own_hands. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.