Word.ws English Dictionary

take someone's name in vain

take someone's name in vain verb: to speak insultingly about someone, especially behind their back.

Verb

take someone's name in vain (third-person singular simple present takes someone's name in vain, present participle taking someone's name in vain, simple past took someone's name in vain, past participle taken someone's name in vain)

  1. To speak insultingly about someone, especially behind their back.
    • He never once took her name in vain among the fellows: and she had not been a very good girl, either.1887, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Jack the Fisherman, page 17
    • Hollywood honchos courted her, flattered her, showered her with gifts—and took her name in vain behind her back.2010, William J. Mann, How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood 1941-1981, Faber & Faber, →ISBN, page 55

Forms of take someone's name in vain

third-person singular presenttakes someone's name in vain
present participletaking someone's name in vain
pasttook someone's name in vain
past participletaken someone's name in vain

Origin of take someone's name in vain

By extension from the widely known religious proscription against taking the Lord's name in vain, that is, uttering it in ways that are gratuitous and irreverent, such as swearing oaths casually.

Questions about take someone's name in vain

What does take someone's name in vain mean?
Take someone's name in vain means to speak insultingly about someone, especially behind their back.
What part of speech is take someone's name in vain?
Take someone's name in vain is a verb.
What is the past tense of take someone's name in vain?
The past tense of take someone's name in vain is took someone's name in vain.

Words near take someone's name in vain in the dictionary

  1. take someone's arm
  2. take someone's breath away
  3. take someone's fancy
  4. take someone's head off
  5. take someone's life
  6. take someone's name in vain
  7. take someone's part
  8. take someone's place
  9. take someone's point
  10. take someone's word for it
  11. take something as it comes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take someone's name in vain (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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